Rachel Berry: Behind the Mask
by sarahanne2001
Summary: What if Rachel wasn't who she said she was. What if it was all just a play and she was the only one who knew her part. Can she keep the act up, or does something better come along?
1. Episode 1

Prologue

"Rachel, can you and Jordan come in here, your father and I have something to tell you," Hiram called out from the living room.

Rachel and Jordan both came down the stairs and the difference between the two girls couldn't have been clearer. Rachel sat down with her back straight on the edge of the couch ready for whatever her fathers had to tell her, while Jordan just flopped down in the corner and yawned. Hiram and Leroy, their Dad and Daddy respectively, smiled at their girls, so close in age but so different in personality.

Before Hiram could even start Rachel blurted out, "If this is about what happened at school I can explain." Rachel kind of shrunk a little as she saw her Daddy raise an eyebrow. It was obvious to her now that they didn't know about what had happened, but now they were going to have to be told about it.

Hiram gave a soft smile before addressing Rachel, "We'll talk about that later but for now you're Daddy and I have something to tell you that you might not like, but we have talked about this and we believe it is best for all of us." He gave a sigh then did what he was best at and just blurted it out, "We're moving."

Rachel gasped while Jordan just shrugged, and before Rachel could start Leroy jumped in, "The hospital there has offered your Dad the head position for the entire hospital and they also offered me the head position for the pediatric ward. Your Dad and I have both worked very hard at what we do and we feel that this new change will be good for us and allow us to put more away for your college Rachel, and to continue to pay for yours Jordan. Also, though we did leave when you both were young this is where you both were born. We have always planned on going back eventually; the job offers just sped up the process a little."

Rachel sat there in shock as her fathers looked at her with trepidation. They weren't sure how she would react and frankly neither was she. The silence was broken by the grandfather clock announcing the time and Jordan, Rachel's sister, gave a small giggle highly amused by what was going on. Jordan had graduated high school a long time ago and was currently working on getting her master's degree in psychology. She did that from home anyway so it didn't matter where that home was located. Rachel on the other hand attended one of the high schools on the outskirts of Columbus and had many friends that she would have to give up. Jordan could see the storm gathering strength in Rachel when she sighed and gave her fathers a look telling her that she would once again handle Rachel. Jordan had always been the peacemaker for the family. She did not like conflict and did her best to avoid it.

They both gave her a small smile as she sat forward and started running her hand up and down Rachel's back. "Hey Songbird, this isn't as bad as you're making it out to be. Lima is a couple hours from here, so you'd still be able to come and visit everybody and they can come see us there. Plus this is a once in a lifetime opportunity." Jordan stopped there and sat back again waiting for Rachel to take the bait, and it wasn't a long before Rachel was staring at her with a cautious look on her face. Jordan couldn't blame her either. The last time Jordan had said something like that Rachel had ended up breaking her arm in two different places. Their fathers also gave her skeptical looks but allowed her to continue, mostly because they couldn't veto anything that hadn't been said.

Rachel sighed, "What opportunity Star? What could possibly make leaving my friends and my life before I absolutely have to any better?" Rachel sunk back fully into the couch and crossed her arms while pouting.

Jordan just smiled, used to dealing with everything Rachel Berry, "Well for starters no one at this new school knows you at all and…"

Rachel cut her off, "And that is a good thing? You know how hard it is for me to actually allow people in. I like my life here. I love my friends, and I don't want to have to start over. Yeah I know I could do it, and I'd excel at it because I'm me, but that doesn't mean that I want to start all over again. Isn't there some way that I can just finish the next year of school here? I've worked so hard to be the best that I could be at everything I do. This knew place will have new rules and new people, plus I won't have my teachers anymore. How am I supposed to prepare myself for my time on Broadway if you take me away from my resources? What about my future? This could hurt everything I've worked towards." Rachel gave her fathers a pleading look, while they stared at her sadly.

Jordan cleared her throat getting their attention again. When everyone was looking at her she pointedly asks Rachel, "May I continue without interruption now?" It was only after Rachel had sulkily nodded and slumped back in her seat that Jordan continued. "As I was saying Rachel, no one knows you so they don't know how you act. Perhaps you could use this new change as an acting exercise. We could come up with a role for you to play and then give you goals for the week to complete. This is a chance to practice for when you get on Broadway. You're going to end up pretending you're someone else on stage every night, so this could be the dry run except, well, it'll be interactive theater where no one actually knows the ending. You would still be able to come home and be yourself, and we'd come and spend weekends with our friends, but this could be a really good thing. You'd get to see if acting is what you really want."

Rachel just sat there staring at Jordan going over everything in her mind, carefully weighing all that Jordan had said with everything that she felt. Hiram cleared his throat, "Star I'm not sure if it would be beneficial to Rachel's wellbeing if she can't be herself at all during school, and has to act the entire time. It might start to wear her down and make her unhappy having to pretend."

Jordan just nods, "I had thought of that, but honestly this is what she wants to do with her life. She wants to act and if she can't handle it now then how is she supposed to handle it for a career. Besides I'm not saying that she can't incorporate herself into the character she is going to play. From what I've read it would be best if she used who she is as the basis and just make a few changes that she can use to cleanly separate the Fake Rachel from the Real Rachel. All of that plus the fact that she gets to come home and be normal. I have faith in Rachel and her acting ability. I think that this would be just something else that she could excel at. Besides, if Rachel does start making some friends that she wants to bring in on the game then there is nothing stopping her. It will be a continually changing thing." Jordan looked at her fathers still seeing a little apprehension but a little more understanding. They realized that in her own way Jordan was giving Rachel a way to make sure that she could handle Broadway. They both gave Jordan a nod telling her that they would stand behind both of them no matter the decision.

Rachel however was still sitting there trying to figure out if this was something that she would want? They all knew that Rachel drew into herself and got really quiet when she was thinking deeply about something, so they just left her be while talking quietly amongst them about what Lima was really like. None of them had been to Lima since the Berrys had adopted Jordan when she was four. Leroy was telling Jordan about how they would start looking at houses on Saturday when Rachel butted in, "I'll do it. Acting while I'm at school sounds like it is going to be hard, and I never step down from a challenge. I think you're right and this will give me practical experience for when I go to Broadway, and even though I won't be able to list it on my resume it will help me get better. We'll have all summer to hammer out the details because I won't be starting school there until next year, right?," When both of her dads nod she continues, "We'll have to set out some ground rules about the personality of my character, and exactly how the weekly goals are going to work, but I am strangely excited about moving now."

Both Hiram and Leroy let out a relieved breath as they realize that this move is now going to be so much easier than they thought, all thanks to Jordan's idea. The girls moved closer on the couch and started to work on Rachel's new character giggling as they both started listing the craziest things they could think of. They both decided that this was going to be a good move.

Rachel's POV

I dreamed a dream gently woke me from my slumber on one of the biggest days of my life. This is my moment to shine, to show my family that I truly have what it takes to be a Broadway star. It's not as if my family isn't behind me, but today starts the biggest performance I've ever undertaken. To go to a completely foreign place and convince a group of people that I am someone else for an extended period of time is daunting, but I am up to the task.

My fathers had set up a small workout room in the fourth bedroom, and that was my first stop of the day. It was only six in the morning but my sister was already running on the treadmill. She prefers to run while I enjoy the elliptical. We had started working out together in the mornings several years ago when I first began middle school. With Jordan beginning college that year we didn't have much time to spend together and this suited us both. We're both very conscious of our bodies, and the environment.

I snuck a glance at Jordan glad that she was my sister, and that she had come up with this plan. I was still a little nervous about it, but fully committed. Normally I'm a very relaxed person, and nothing really bothers me. Yes, I am driven to succeed but I do know how to have fun. The character I'm supposed to play is just as driven as I am, but in no way knows how to have fun. In fact if I met someone like the fake me, I'd probably be irritated by her. Not to mention the wardrobe. I'm very much a t-shirt and jeans girl with some gorgeous dresses for the proper occasions. My character has hideous fashion choices, I mean animal sweaters? Jo and I had fun shopping around at thrift stores looking for the most heinous items we could find. Needless to say we found quite a few articles that fit the bill. Thankfully I get to change as soon as I come home.

Half an hour later I finally got off the elliptical and went to go take my shower. Jordan had finished fifteen minutes earlier so she could take her shower first. The best part about having Jordan as a sister would be waiting for me as soon as I finished my shower. Jordan loved to cook, and has made breakfast for me every day before school for a long time. It was a perfect way to start the day and gave us more time to spend together. No matter what happened in my life she is always my best friend and safe place even more so than my fathers.

I sat down for breakfast and smiled at Jordan. She smiled back at me and I could see the love and pride in her eyes. I knew she had faith in me, and I would do my best to live up to the person she knew I could be. I looked fondly at my parents as they quietly chatted over the morning paper. To some people my life would be to normal and boring, but to me it was perfect.

Dad's phone beeped and he picked it up to turn off the alarm, "Okay Songbird, it's time to take you to hell… I mean school." Everyone burst out laughing at his terrible, but probably true joke as I got my things ready for school. I smoothed down my retro argyle skirt that we picked up at this cute little shop in downtown New York where we spent a week this summer, and readjusted my knee socks with a sigh. I truly hated dressing like this, but it had been decided that the Rachel I was going to be at school had no fashion sense. It was part of my role, and I would have to get used to wearing skirts to school. At least the skirts got to be short. If I was going to have to dress terribly then I wanted to have a little fun with it. I gave one last look at Jo before taking a deep breath and entering that space in my mind that we had perfected over the summer. I called it my diva place and had taken several days to properly arrange it to fit the character I was portraying. It was time to be a whole new person.

Dad pulled up to the school, and I didn't get out of the car. I really didn't want to do this. Getting out of the car marked a change in my life; no longer would I be Rachel, but instead I would be Rachel Barbra Berry future Broadway star. I had put on a brave face for my family, but there was little I wouldn't give to walk into my old high school today.

Dad reached over and grabbed my hand. He knew how hard today would be. I've attended a private school for the gifted with a very liberal background for most of my life. Public school was a mystery to me that he knew all too well. I looked over at him and gave him my Broadway smile.

"Don't worry Dad, I've got this. You and Daddy have taught me how to handle myself, besides it's only a year. Maybe it'll even be fun."

Dad gave me a lopsided grin, "Just know that your Daddy and I are here for you at all time for all things. We love you and want you to be happy."

I gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I know Dad. You had better hurry up before you're late for work."

I hopped out of the car and waved at him as he drove off. I could hear some chuckles around me but internally shrugged. My entire goal today was to be as outlandish and vibrant as I could be. I wanted to get noticed, and my fake personality demanded the attention.

I sauntered into school dragging my pink wheeled bag behind me. I could feel the stares of everyone around me, but it just increased my cockiness. This was going to be easier than I thought.

I was twenty minutes early to school so I had plenty of time to wander the halls to get my bearings. Going down the last hall towards my destination, the main office, I noticed a large bulletin board that contained sign-up sheets for all the different clubs that the school offered. In my old school I was only in three different clubs, the drama club, the Honor Society, and the glee club. My friends were all in the same clubs, and I enjoyed the time I devoted to them along with my other after school classes.

I carefully considered the board. There was an overwhelming number of clubs listed, at least fifteen. Now I had to decide which ones to join to further develop my character. I sighed; I couldn't decide what to do. Each one of them had the potential to help make me seem more overambitious and annoying. Finally I looked at all the times that the clubs met, each one only meeting once a month besides glee and drama. I glanced around the hall looking at those around me. Most of them had already stopped paying attention to me. I pulled out my pink pen and sheet of gold stars and did the only thing I could do, I signed up for all of the clubs.

I stuck the last star on the New Directions sign-up sheet, and turned around with a little flourish. It took a few seconds for my brain to register the cold stinging sensation starting at my face and slowly dripping down the rest of my body. I wiped my eyes clean while the whole hallway stopped what they were doing to laugh at me. Two giant football players, by the look of their jerseys, were holding Big Gulp cups and I was now wearing their content. They high-fived each other and I finally had control of my legs again after the abrupt shock. I ran into the girl's room and quickly grabbed some paper towels. Even though I didn't like my sweater I still needed to try and salvage it. I managed to get most of the stain out, and all of the stickiness gone from my head upper body.

I still couldn't believe that those jocks had done that to me, and that no one had stopped them. From the reactions of the crowd I could deduce that this was a common occurrence. It took all I had not to track those Neanderthals down and take them down a peg. This is not what I signed up for when I agreed to move here. An ear shattering bell rang out of the intercom and I cursed. I was supposed to have already been to the main office to find out where I was supposed to go.

I made it to my locker without any more incidents. I would have just enough time to get it set up before I had to head to my home room, which was conveniently close to where I was. As I hung up the mirror I'd brought to give my locker a little more personality I saw something that took my breath away. Coming down the hall was the most gorgeous girl that I had ever seen. Her dark skin contrasted the red of her cheerleading uniform perfectly. I could feel my heartbeat pick up as she drew closer to my locker. I turned around after she had passed me, just so I didn't have to lose sight of her. I barely paid attention to the two blondes walking with her.

The bell rang, once again bringing me out of my stupor. I couldn't believe the feelings that one girl could evoke in me. It had taken me a little while to accept that I was gay. I had spent so much of my life focused on my life and school that I hadn't given it much thought. When I entered high school and had my first major crush my fathers encouraged me to experiment with both sexes before labeling myself as gay or straight. It only took one kiss from a boy to realize that I enjoyed kissing girls more. Since that day I had owned and accepted the fact that I am gay.

I slid down into my seat for first period and kind of zoned out. The first day of school was always the worst. The teachers went over the same thing every period and every time everyone had to introduce themselves. Even at my old school where everyone knew each other and had been in the same class since elementary school the teachers still did the same thing. It must be in a teachers handbook somewhere; how to bore your students to death 101.

I breezed through the first part of the day, and started psyching myself up for the lunch time audition. I knew that I could sing my very worst and still sound better than most of the students in this hell hole, I mean school, but I still wanted to give it my best.

When I slipped into the auditorium there was already someone auditioning on the stage. It was a boy who looked my age and his voice was breath taking. Just sitting there I could picture the harmonies we could obtain. I knew that there was no way that the teacher would turn this boy away, and I felt that if the others were like him we might be up to par of my old school.

I sat through the rest of the auditions before I headed to the stage to sing. Most of the singers had been rough, but with a little polishing they could be great. I stepped in to the middle of the stage and let loose one of my show smiles.

"Hello, my name is Rachel Barbra Berry and I am going to sing On My Own from Les Mis."

The teacher looked a little doubtful, so I enjoyed his look of astonishment after I began even more. Most people saw me and thought that I was just a small girl who wasn't very special, but when I opened my mouth no one could deny the talent that I had.

Unfortunately that was the highlight of my day. It was the last period, and I hadn't even seen the cheerleader who caught my attention again. The bell rang to dismiss us from school, and I quickly gathered my stuff up so I could get to my locker. What I hadn't counted on was the Spanish teacher, who happened to be the glee director, to ask me to stay behind to chat. I had to put my acting abilities to the test as I sat there and made small talk with him. He wanted to know more about the vocal training I had undergone. After about ten minutes I was finally able to convince him that I really had to leave or my ride might leave me.

I practically ran out of the classroom, heading towards my locker. I never even looked up, but I should have. I ran straight into a very warm body and ended up bouncing back and hitting the ground hard. I looked up to see the gorgeous Latina cheerleader who had caught my attention earlier being helped up off the floor.

"Watch where the fuck you're going manhands," the girl growled before stalking off down the hall with her friends. Self-consciously I looked down at my hands. They were small and perfectly manicured. I shook my head, manhands, what that girl needed was glasses. I sighed for the umpteenth time today. I sincerely hope that when the girl gets to know me she won't be so dismissing. Well if she ever got to know the real me.

These depressing thoughts followed me as I made my way to my locker, and then finally out to the parking lot where my sister was waiting. My fathers had offered to buy me a car, but I had opted to put the money in a savings account instead. I wouldn't need a car when I moved to New York for college, and it wasn't like Jordan wouldn't take me where I needed to go.

"Hey Songbird. You look a little down. Did today not go the way you wanted it too?" My sister asked as I hopped in the car.

I let the seat back and closed my eyes, "Today was the worst day I've ever had at school, and I'm pretty sure it's just going to get worse before it gets better.

"I sat up suddenly to stare at her. "Do you know what they do to people they classify as losers in this school?" She shook her head no, and I pointed to my stained sweater, "They through slushies in their face, and the whole hallway laughs. None of the teachers even do anything to stop it. Ugh." I threw my hands up. "Can we just go home and be normal for a little while."

"Actually I have a better idea that I already cleared with Dad and Daddy. We just have to be home by ten, and since it's already close to four we're going to have to hurry up." Jordan said as she started up the car and pulled away from the front of the school.

I sat my seat up so I could see where we were going, "Uh, Jo where are we headed."

She smirked at me and pulled out onto the highway, "We're headed to see our friends and relax with some fun times."

The school week went by pretty fast after that first day. I started to settle into my new role, and things started to bother me less and less. The only thing I truly hated was the slushies. No matter how hard I tried to avoid them, I got hit at least once a day. I even started bringing things to change into and clean myself off after one of these attacks. Other than that I had no complaints. I was excelling at all of my classes, and everyone thought I was an obnoxious know-it-all. I couldn't believe it was going so well.

Today was Friday and I had made plans to go spend the weekend with friends as soon as I finished at school. It put a spring in my step that the other students seemed to hone in on. During the day I was hit with a total of three slushies. My only consolation was that the gorgeous cheerleader that I saw the first day wasn't there to witness my humiliation. In fact I had only seen the girl two times since the first day, not that I was counting.

My last period seemed to drag on forever. Every time I looked at the clock it seemed as if the hands hadn't moved at all. It wasn't until I discreetly checked my watch that I realized that the clock was broken. I felt like slamming my head on the desk. I had spent twenty minutes agonizing over how time didn't seem to be moving at all when the clock didn't even work. I was so out of it, ready to visit my friends that I wasn't even sure how I was going to make it through glee practice.

When I had signed up for the New Directions I was expecting something similar to what I had experienced in my old school. I was expecting rigid practice structure, dedicated vocal and dance coaching, and a great deal of effort put into it by not only the students but also the teacher. In the week of glee practices that I had already endured none of that had happened. Mr. Schuester seemed to care more about "feelings" and less about competitions. In my old school we would have already had a set list planned out for our invitational, sectionals, regionals, and nationals. We were the national champs for six years running.

When the bell finally rang I made my way out of the classroom fairly quickly. I didn't want to get stopped by Mr. Schue when I was going to see him in a few minutes. Besides the only times I saw my cheerleader was when I was at my locker. I tried to spend as much time there as I could. I'm not trying to be creepy or anything, I've just never felt this way about another person without having spent time with them.

I carefully placed things in my locker just to pull them out while looking in the mirror. I watched as the four other glee clubbers walked past me. None of them even glanced my way. While I had going for annoying, I had hoped that they would at least make an attempt to be my friends. I'm sad to say that as soon as they heard my voice I could feel the animosity rolling off them. They had all been in the club since their sophomore year, and did not appreciate me coming into their territory. Apparently Mr. Schue liked to have all the club members audition a song at the beginning of the year regardless of the fact that they were already in the club; most of the time I think that he is off his rocker.

The hallway emptied and I finally shut my locker door, accepting the fact that I wouldn't see who I was looking for. I finally made it to the bathroom to throw on the hideous workout outfit that Schue wanted us to wear. Not only were we doing stupid songs, but we had to wear stupid outfits. If I was myself I wouldn't have been caught dead in the hideous clothes, but as Rachel Barbra Berry I owned those clothes. When I finally exited the bathroom I held my head high and strutted to the choir room.

When I made it to the room I could hear the others having a lively conversation which stopped as soon as I walked through the door. Internally I sighed; they could at least have a little more tact. I turned away from them as if I hadn't noticed anything and had Brad, the pianist, go through my scales with me. Regardless of whether or not I was playing a character, my voice was the most important part of my body and I did my utmost to take care of it. The others could care less about their voices, and often began practice without a proper warm up. All through the week I had done my part in lecturing them on the dangers of singing without warming up to no avail. Today I could care less about what they did; I just wanted to get out of there so I could go pretend none of this had ever happened.

Just as I finished my warm-up Schue walked in, late as usual. That man needs to get it together before his whole world falls apart around him. He made us all line up and handed out the assignment for the day. We had to sing "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat". I couldn't believe how frustrating this was. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with following directions, but it was becoming increasingly clear that Mr. Schuester was using the glee club to relive his high school days. Now, there is nothing wrong with the song but it is not something we should be singing. Mercedes is an excellent female vocalist, and so is Tina when she sings, and no one would deny the fact that Artie and Kurt aren't great singers, but none of them fit the role of a leading male vocalist. In my old club the auditions were a tool our director used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each singer and developed a female and male lead from the information she gathered. Mr. Schue seemed content to assign parts willy nilly.

After the fifth time of messing the song up I finally had enough.

"This is crazy. No one is going to buy this. I mean you gave the main part of 'Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat' to a guy in a wheelchair. No offence Artie, but you've got to see the irony in that." I told Mr. Schue. The whole room, minus Brad, looked at me like I was crazy.

I through my head back and groaned, no one was getting the point. They couldn't see the problems jumping up and down in front of their faces. I just couldn't deal with it anymore and stormed out of the room. "I can't believe they're also so blasé about this whole thing. Don't they know that it was activities like this that got you into good schools? Did they want to be losers their whole life?" I thought to myself as I headed towards my locker.

I know I should have been paying attention to where I was going, but the hallways were supposed to be empty so I didn't. I can honestly say that I am not upset about the results of not looking where I was going. I just so happened to run full force into the girl who had captured my attention a week ago. Her friends caught her before she could fall to the ground, but I was not so lucky and hit the ground hard.

I sat there on the ground staring up at the three gorgeous girls, and did the only thing my brain could think of. I raised my hand and held it out, "Hi, I am Rachel Barbra Berry. I'm new to this school, and we've yet to make each other's acquaintance."

The three stood there staring at me before the girl I had been thinking about non-stop for five days scowled at me and said, "Watch where you're going manhands," before walking away with the two blondes.

I stared at them open mouthed for a good two minutes before I finally recalled that I was sitting on the ground. I couldn't believe that someone who had invaded my thoughts so thoroughly could dismiss me so easily, but what could I really expect; I was at the bottom of the ladder, and she was at the top.

I was still contemplating what had happened in the encounter as I changed into my school clothes, and gathered my stuff from my locker. When I looked down at my watch I nearly hit myself in the head. I had walked out on glee club with forty-five minutes left and had only wasted fifteen of them. Jordan wouldn't be to school to pick me up for another half hour. She had an important test she had to take, and I was supposed to be occupied during it. How was I supposed to know that I would have a meltdown at glee club today?

I made my way out to the bleachers to wait for my salvation. It was a pretty private place where I could still see the parking lot. I didn't think anyone would bother me while I was sitting here, but was I ever wrong. Ten minutes into my peaceful reprieve from the hell hole they called school I spotted Schue making his way towards me.

He sat down one row above me for some odd reason before speaking, "Changed out of your costume," he noted. He was not getting off to a good start, but I decided to have mercy on him.

I took a deep breath and slipped back into character. "I'm tired of being laughed at," I told him, feeling true pain caused by the laughter of my peers. Even though I had engineered this, I had not thought so many, I mean all, of those around me would be duped by my rouse. I could feel what my character was going through and it just added weight to my performance.

Mr. Schue sighed, "You're the best kid in there Rachel, and it comes with a price."

I squared my shoulders and threw out my line, "Mr. Schue I am a senior in high school. The clock is ticking, and I can feel the countdown beginning. I don't want to leave high school with nothing to show for it."

He took the bait; hook, line, and sinker. "You get great grades, and you're a fantastic singer," He began. I could tell he was just trying to placate me so that I wouldn't leave his precious glee club. I had seen his eyes light up in my audition. He needed me to make his club something, and we both knew it.

I turned back around and faced the football field. I could feel the defeat weigh down on me. "Everybody hates me," I whispered as if it was some dark secret. It was true though. Because of my acting I had not made a single friend during the week I had been in school, and I didn't expect to make any soon.

"You think glee club is going to change that?" He asked confused. I glanced back at him and had to quickly look forward to hide my smirk. The man was so far past confused I didn't think he'd ever find his way back.

I gave him my best determined face, the one I had spent two hours practicing in the bathroom mirror one summer in acting camp, and declared, "Being great at something is going to change it. Being a part of something special, makes you special right? I need a male lead who can keep up with me vocally."

Finally the man seemed to follow along with what I was saying. I could see the cogs working in his head when he finally offered up, "Maybe I can coach Artie along."

I had already prepared myself to have this conversation with Schue, and concocted an appropriate response. I knew that with the right coaching Artie could take the male lead on some of the song we would have to perform to be the best, but honestly he didn't have the versatility that a true lead vocalist needed.

"Look, Mr. Schue I really appreciate what you're trying to do but if you can't give me what I need, then I'm sorry. I'm not going to make a fool out of myself. I can't keep wasting my time with glee. It hurts too much." I said in my calmest voice.

Just as he was about to reply the football coach blew his whistle to catch the Spanish teachers attention. Schue just looked at me and shook his head before heading down to the field. I grinned when he wasn't looking, knowing that I had just started the man on a journey to find my perfect leading man. He did after all want to bring his precious little club to national victory, as did any decent club.

I glanced at my phone, and jumped out of my seat when I realized I had just enough time to make it to the parking lot before Jordan pulled up. This was the part of the day that I had been looking forward to the most, the point where I could be myself.

As I hopped in the car I saw my cheerleader staring at me, and lamented the fact that I still didn't know her name before shaking it off.

"Hey Rach, you ready for a fun weekend at Mom's?" Jordan asked as I buckled myself in.

As she pulled out of the parking lot I started messing with the radio before answering her, "Yeah, I can't wait to see Mom again. I know we saw her on Monday, but it is so weird not seeing her every day. I really miss having her as my glee coach, but I mostly just miss having her around."

Jordan nodded understandingly as we fell into a comfortable silence listening to the radio. We were already going to have to go over our days with Mom so there was no point to tell each other now when we could relax with some music.

I know it sounds weird, us talking about our "Mom" when we both have two dads, but she really is my Mom. Eighteen years ago my fathers had decided that they were ready to start a family, and set out to find a surrogate. My mom had aspired to go to New York to make her mark on Broadway and had needed the cash to do so. She had agreed to become their surrogate with the condition that she would always get to be in my life in some form or fashion. My fathers adored my mother and agreed to her terms.

Twelve months later I was born into a loving family with three parents. My mom had went to Broadway, and had headlined one of the biggest plays of my generation before realizing that she just missed me too much. She moved back to Ohio around the time my dads moved us to Columbus. That was also around the time that Jordan was adopted into the family. Instead of using another surrogate my fathers decided to adopt a girl my age at the time, who had been my Daddy's patient. My mother took Jordan in just like my fathers and we became a very happy family.

The next thing I know someone is shaking me. I open my eyes and jerk back into my seat. Jordan laughed at my reaction to her face unnervingly close to mine. I can't believe that I fell asleep on the short trip. School must have really taken its toll on me.

I punch her in the arm before hoping out of the car and heading up the walk. There's no need to bring anything for a weekend because we've had a second wardrobe here for a long time. Whenever we have problems with each other or one of our fathers Jordan and I both know that Mom's door is always open for us.

I walk in and call out, "Mom, we're home." I hear a muffled sound coming from the kitchen and head that way to investigate with Jordan following me now that she's entered the house. When we walk in I can't help but laugh. Mom is on the floor messing with the pipes under the sink. The entire kitchen looks like a tornado has come and gone a couple of times.

When she hears us laugh Mom sticks her head out looking chagrined, "I had hoped to have this fixed before you girls got here, but then one problem turned into three and I got overwhelmed."

Jordan went over to the sink and gave her a hand up. "Why don't we just call a plumber tomorrow and go out somewhere for supper tonight. We can clean the mess up tomorrow while we're waiting for the plumber to show up," Jordan offered up as we all surveyed the mess.

"Good idea," Mom replied, "Let me go change into something less messy. You guys should call your friends and tell them you made it here alive, and invite them to supper. We can all go to our normal pizza place, and then you guys can hang out with them while I come back here and start on this mess."

Jordan and I looked at each other before shrugging. "Alright," I said, "but don't worry too much about the kitchen tonight. We'll help you clean it up tomorrow. It will give us plenty of time to catch up. Now, no offence, but you're much too messy to hug right now so I'll save it for later."

Mom nodded her head, "Duly noted and understood, but I think the important thing here is what in God's name are wearing. That thing is ugly."

I glanced down at my sweater, "Oh, it's just a unicorn. It's totally in these days," I bluffed, "but you wouldn't know because you teach private school." I gave her a thousand watt smile as she just shook her head laughing. She knew exactly why I was wearing the sweater, but I was glad she had mentioned it or I might have forgotten to change.

Jordan made the calls to our closest friends while Mom and I got changed. Did I mention that she's the best mom in the whole world? We lived over an hour away and only got to see her on weekends, but she still made sure we got to see our friends too. I guess it does help that they're all in her glee club, but still it's the thought that counts. Somehow she manages to balance awesome mom with dedicated coach all while making it look easy.

It was about seven when we finally made it to the restaurant. It was mostly empty, and that's just the way we liked it.

"Hey Mr. P how are things going, it feels like it's been forever since we've been here?" I asked the man at the register. We've known him since I was little for a couple of reasons; first he made the best vegan pizzas I have ever tasted, and two his twins are two of my and Jordan's closest friends.

"Same old same old Brown Eyes, I see you and your sister are doing well." He gave us a big grin, "The trouble makers are at your normal table. I put the usual in when Jo called. They'll be out in just a few."

Jordan and I both gave him a kiss on the cheek as we moved towards the back of the room. We left Mom up there talking to Mr. Pointe; they had things to catch up on. He was like a third father to me and Jordan just like our parents were surrogate parents for his twins.

"Jesse, Soph, Luke it's so great to see you guys." Jordan exclaimed as soon as we got close to the table. The two boys and Sophia got up and hugs were exchanged all around. We all became close when we were around five, and we've been inseparable since. Sophia and Lucas Pointe are Mr. Pointe's twins, and Jesse St. James is pretty much exactly like me except male. We all loved to sing and dance and the three attended many of the same after school activities as I did. They got to know Jordan through play dates my dads would set up when we were younger. Now we are all the best of friends.

"Jo, Rach! God it's good to see you too. Life is much to tame without you guys around." Jesse exclaimed before dramatically pouting. I laughed because I knew it was true. While the five of us were always doing crazy things, Jordan was normally the instigator. In fact some of our best times stemmed from one of Jordan's ideas.

I punched Jesse on the arm, "That just means you guys are staying out of trouble, just like we are. It's much too boring in Lima without you guys. All I've got is that one." I said pointing at Jordan who promptly stuck her tongue out at me.

"Watch it Jo or your face will freeze like that," Mom said as she finally made it over to our table followed by our pizzas. For the next hour or so we laughed and messed around with our friends having a good time. Most people would balk at including their mom in a friends outing, but not us. We were always able to joke around freely, and talk about our life without fear of judgment, not that we ever did anything truly bad. In fact, Mom is one of the major contributions to many of our schemes. Without her assistance when we were younger we wouldn't have the great memories that we do now.

When we finally got home around nine I was more than ready to change into my jammies and relax in the living room with a movie on the T.V. thankfully everyone else had the same idea and we all ended up snuggled together on the couch after putting the Avengers in.

After Friday night the weekend just seemed to fly by. Saturday morning we helped mom clean up the kitchen, and that afternoon we spent time just hanging out with her and having fun. It wasn't until that night that we actually spent some time with our friends. All in all it was a good weekend and I felt refreshed when I got back to Lima on Sunday night.

Almost as soon as I stepped through the door on Monday morning, Schuester grabbed my attention. "Rachel, I've got great news. I've found your male lead. He'll start practice with us this afternoon. You'll see, this is just what glee needs." He giddily told me before getting distracted by Ms. Pillsbury the guidance counselor. A male lead is just what this group needed. Hopefully soon I'd be able to build it up into something that could actually compete against my mother, who happened to be my old glee club coach.

Today was the beginning of my second week of school, and I had decided to step up my game a little. Last week was like a teaser for what was to come. From now on I would be more consistently in your face than I had been last week, when I was still adjusting to a new school.

During the break between classes I made sure to saunter where ever I went, and thankfully I wasn't slushied that day. In class I made sure to raise my hand for every single question, most of which I actually knew the answer to. At lunch I pulled out a very elaborate lunch and real china to eat on. Anything that would make people think that I thought I was better than them in everything I did, and had plans to continue. By the end of the day even the teachers were tired of me.

When it came time for glee club I could tell that the members didn't want me to be there, except for one. The new guy, who must be the male lead Schue was talking about. He kinda waved hi to me, but kept to himself in the corner. I could tell that he wanted to be anywhere else but here. He was kinda cute though if you liked boys. If I were into them, I could totally see myself falling for him as long as he had a personality as good as his looks.

When Schue finally showed up, late as usual, he passed out the song that we were going to sing. I was pleasantly surprised that it was from Grease, one of the better musicals. We all lined up on the stage and Brad played the opening. I think all of us were holding our breath waiting for Finn, that's what Schue called him anyway, to start singing.

When he opened his mouth and the song came out I was shocked. I had not thought that he would be that good. I could tell that he was very raw and had no training at all, but there was a lot of potential for him. There was a lot of potential for him for much more than being a leading man in the glee club. Finn could be very useful for my acting, for what kind of diva didn't have a leading man in her life. Of course I'd rather have a leading lady, but the only person I wanted to fill that role wouldn't give me the time of day. With that thought I decided that Rachel Barbra Berry was going to pursue glee's new leading man Finn Hudson.

As soon as I made up my mind I heard my cue to start singing. This would be the perfect time to begin the seduction of Finn Hudson, even though it made me want to gag. I threw the lyrics behind me and put my training to good use. When this song was finished everyone would know I was going after Finn, including Finn. There wouldn't be any wiggle room on the interpretation.

I moved around Kurt messing up his hair, mostly cause I knew it would upset him while keeping my eyes on Finn. He was giving me weird looks, but I'm pretty sure he understood the meaning I was trying to get across. The next victim in my way towards Finn was Tina. As I reached in to push her away I accidently got her boob instead of her arm, but she didn't seem to mind that much. Hmmm, I'll have to store that little tidbit away for future use. Next came Artie who was easy just to roll out of the way leaving only Mercedes between me and the boy I had set my eyes on. I figured the best way to get to Mercedes was just to ignore her and pretend she wasn't there, which I must say did garner the reaction I was looking for. I could feel her recoil away from me as I stood in her personal space. The look on Finn's face as I reached out for his hand was hilarious. I might have to take back my earlier assumption that he knew what my intentions were because now he just looks really confused and slightly frightened.

"Oh hell to the no. Look, I'm not down with this background singing nonsense." Mercedes interjected. The anger and frustration in her voice quite clearly got her point across. "I'm Beyoncé. I ain't no Kelly Rowland," she told Schuester. I was quite curious how he would handle this outburst. On my old team any public outburst like this would result in immediate dismissal.

"Okay, look, Mercedes, it's just one song." Schue threw out trying to placate the fuming diva.

Kurt jumped in to help Schue by adding, "And it's the first time we've been kind of good." I couldn't help but agree with him. We weren't national champions good, but we were better than last week.

"Okay, you're good white boy." Mercedes conceded, "I'll give you that, but you better bring it. Let's run it again."

"Alright, let's do it. From the top" Schue exclaimed. I don't know what he was so excited about. He in no way handled the situation, Kurt did. I just shrugged and moved back to my starting position. If he wanted to let his glee club spiral out of his control that was his problem.

As we continued practicing I kept up flirting with Finn. By the end of the rehearsal all I accomplished was making Tina laugh. That girl seemed to find my failed attempts at wooing the new guy kind of funny. Maybe there was one person in school who didn't hate me as much as I thought.

I went home that night feeling better than I had after any of the previous days last week. Even if Finn hadn't caught my meaning, I was one step closer to building the perfect cover, and I had a potential ally if I needed one.

I hoped in Jordan's car and drove myself home after school, excited to tell Jo about my day. I got to borrow her car because she stayed a little longer in Columbus for some school stuff. Jordan took all of her classes online, but for some of her classes she had to go on campus for the exams. Jordan's crazy smart, but most of her achievements stem from the fact that she's not very comfortable around people she doesn't know. After being hospitalized for a severe panic attack on the first day of kindergarten Dad, Daddy, and Mom all worked out a homeschooling schedule for Jordan so she would feel safe. Jordan spent most of her days in a corner in Mom's classroom; she's a high school English teacher, where she worked on her own school work. While it wasn't the best solution for a homeschooled five year old, it was the one that worked.

I pulled into the drive and quickly raced into the house. If I was lucky Jo would be home by now. I just had to tell her about Finn, she would get a kick out of it.

I slammed the door when I entered and was rewarded with a, "In the kitchen," from Jordan. I just rolled my eyes. If she wasn't doing school work or doing something crazy with me and our friends, she was in the kitchen. Not that anyone complained, she was the best baker in the group.

I skipped into the room and sat down in what was quickly becoming my spot. Though I had protested the move, I loved the house we moved into. It was a lot larger and nicer than our little home in Columbus. It was nice to be able to move around and spread out.

Jordan tapped my nose with her flour coated finger, "What are you grinning about Songbird? It looks like you're the cat who's finally got the cream? I'm going to guess you had a good day at school."

I nodded as I snuck a bite of her vegan cookie dough, "I had a wonderful day. It almost felt like I was back home, except no one talked to me. I made it all day without being slushied, and Mr. Schue finally found a male vocalist who should be able to take this little group somewhere, though he's nowhere as good as Jesse." I pouted, now that I thought about it I would have to do a lot of work to whip this group into shape. They had the potential but not the leadership to achieve their dreams.

"Aw cheer up Rach, you know you like a challenge." Jo encouraged me as she carefully placed her shaped cookies on the baking sheet.

"I know, but I would like to win my fourth national title this year. It would look really good on my college apps, but that wasn't why I was smiling." Jordan raised her eyebrows at me encouraging me to go on.

"I met a boy," at this she let out a very un-Jordan-like snort, "Hey, I can meet boys besides it's not as if I really like him. I just think he'd make an interesting addition to my character acting. I mean if I'm supposed to be as conceited and self-absorbed as I portray then I should be dating the male lead of the glee club. It only makes sense."

Jo and I sat there staring at each other before she finally nodded, "Yes, you're right. It's typical teenage behavior for the alpha male and female in a subgroup to seek each other out as potential mates. It increases the likelihood of successful offspring, or in high school terms it solidifies your place at the top."

I just rolled my eyes; of course she would go off in some technobabble. Luckily for her I still loved her. "That's what I was trying to say. For my character it would look stranger if I didn't pursue him due to his looks and voice. His personality is lacking, but from observing most high school boys that is to be expected besides it's not as if anything would actually happen." I shrugged, "I think I might have made a sorta friend too."

Jordan gave me a funny look, "How do you make a sorta friend?"

"Well, she didn't seem to be upset or irritated by my antics today or really all last week if I think about it. She seems more amused by me if anything. Today it was kind of like we were sharing a private joke because every time I did some crazy flirting she would laugh. It was kind of nice."

"That's nice. Maybe you two could be friends? It would probably be nice if you had some friends outside of Columbus." Jordan observed as she cleaned her hands.

I shook my head, "I don't know. I'll think about it. I might let her in on the secret soon, but for now I've got too much to worry about. Speaking of worry, can you believe my Lit teacher has already assigned a paper? Its due in two weeks, but still it's only the second week of school. She could have at least waited until the weekend to spring the news on us. Anyway I'm going to let you finish your baking while I go up to my room to tackle my homework."

Jordan stopped gathering the ingredients for her new recipe long enough to smile and reply to me. "Well I'm sure you know best, and if you need any help I'll be down here. Dad and Daddy both have to work so I was thinking some BBQ tempeh for supper with a nice fruit salad for desert. How does that sound?"

I couldn't help but rub my stomach. Most people thought vegan food was disgusting and tasteless, but that's only because they've never eaten Jo's cooking. Dinner sounded delicious and I couldn't wait for it, and I let Jordan know, "That sounds divine. If you need any help making it I'll be up in my room." She just waved me off and I headed up to my room. I knew I'd be back down to help chop the vegetables later, but there was nothing I would rather do than spend some quality time with my sister.

When I got to school the next day I discovered that Mr. Schue had called an early morning glee meeting, so I didn't get to hang around my locker watching the crowds. I switched out my textbooks and made my way to the choir room. I was actually very curious about this meeting.

Once everyone was there and settled down Schue, who was there early for once, wrote sectionals across the board. "As you all know, this is a show choir and a show choir performs. This year I want each one of us to focus on our ultimate goal, wining nationals. Now the first step is sectionals, and while we don't compete against this school until regionals, I would like to make a trip to Columbus tomorrow afternoon to see the national champions."

After he finished there was an excited buzz going throughout the room, except for me. He was talking about Vocal Adrenaline, my old group. When the bell finally rang I woodenly walked out of classroom. I had never planned for this when I decided to go forth with my plan. My face is plastered all up and down the trophy cases at Carmel High School. I would have to come up with something good to keep everyone from finding out.

It only took me half a period of dedicated thinking to figure out a plan. I would call Jesse and ask him to remove my pictures, and my mom to ask her to stay out of sight. I mean there is no way that someone can look at the two of us and not know that we're related. We look much too much alike to fool anyone.

With a plan in mind I held my head high as I moved towards my locker to get the books I would need for the next two classes. Just as I got to my locker I looked up to see this mountain of a boy coming in my direction. I knew what was coming, as did most of the students in the hallway. I squared my shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes as he slushied me. The brute at least had the decency to look ashamed. I just shook my head and grabbed my kit so I could clean up. At least my teacher for the next period wouldn't say anything when I came in late, she never did. God I hated this school, but I had already committed to acting a certain way and I wasn't going to change it.

As I was about to enter the bathroom I saw the one thing that was guaranteed to ruin my day, my cheerleader. To my abject dismay she had seen everything. The last thing I wanted was the girl I had a crush on see me get slushied. I'm ashamed to say that the bathroom took the brunt of my humiliation, and I now need ice for my swollen knuckles.

After that my day was a shithole. Nothing went right all day and I was relieved when Jordan finally showed up. I was slushied twice more during the day and the third one had ruined a homework assignment for my next to last class. The teacher was not understanding about it at all, and now I had twice as much math to work through tonight. I just hoped that my dad's didn't have to work late again because I wasn't the best in calculus and neither was Jordan.

Thankfully when I got home Daddy was already there. With his help I was able to power through my calculus homework, and I actually understood it. I gave him a kiss on the cheek then excused myself after we were finished. I still had a couple phone calls to make so that tomorrow wouldn't be a complete disaster.

The calls were a complete success and Mom even agreed to help Jesse take down the photos to help me out. When the group went to Vocal Adrenaline's performance tomorrow there should be nothing that would tip someone off, even the members were being ordered to pretend like they don't know who I am. I actually think that I could pull tomorrow off without any hitches, and I might even be able to get some one on one time with Finn.

I played it low key the next day at school. I wore a pretty outfit to school, and the last thing I wanted to do was have a slushy ruin it. I made it all day without a single incident, and the last period finally came around. The five other glee members, Mr. Schue, Ms. Pillsbury, and I partnered off to drive to Columbus. Unfortunately Artie rode with his Dad and the rest of the kids rode with Kurt. I was stuck riding the entire way with Schue and Emma. I just popped my headphones in and worked on my homework for the hour ride.

"You're very talented." I told Finn as we waited in line together to buy snacks. This was the first opportunity that I have had to talk to him alone since Monday. It was about time I started to put some moves on him.

"Really?" he said surprised.

"Yeah, I would know. I'm very talented too." I told him. Well it was true; I had led a show choir to national championship for three years in a row. "I think the rest of the team expects us to become an item. You the hot male lead and me the stunning young ingénue that everybody roots for." I smiled at him. There was no way he could misunderstand what I was saying.

Finn kind of avoided my eyes as he started to speak, "Well… I, uh, kinda have a girlfriend."

"Really? Who?" I asked. I knew I should have been paying attention to the social structure at McKinley, but it was only the second week. I think I could be excused for not knowing everyone's business, especially since I really didn't care.

Finn just kind of shrugged and said, "Quinn Fabray."

"Cheerleader Quinn Fabray? The president of the celibacy club?" I blurt out. Even as out of it as I am, I know who Quinn Fabray is. She's the ruler of the school and a person's social standing rests in her hands. If she likes you you're cool, but if she doesn't may God have mercy on your soul.

"We're almost four months now. She's cool." Finn tells me before losing the conversation, "Mmm, I wonder if they have Sour Patch Kids."

The boy was an idiot, but not all was lost. So he had a girlfriend. That didn't mean that she had to stay his girlfriend. In fact it would be quite a coup for me to steal the Queen of the school's boyfriend away.

We got our snacks and headed back to the auditorium, they did in fact have Sour Patch Kids. I didn't try to flirt with Finn anymore; I had to go about this in a different way now. I had to be more subtle about the whole stealing a person's boyfriend thing, mostly cause I would never get the chance to do it again.

"Hey, guys, so this is supposed to be our competition, but, uh, I honestly don't think that they've got the talent that we've got. But let's be a good audience, all right? Give them some of that ol' McKinley High respect." Mr. Schue said as we were waiting for the show to start. It took all I had not to stare at the man. Didn't he know who Vocal Adrenaline was, and all of their accomplishments? He was deluded if he thought that our group had half the talent of theirs.

I sat back to enjoy the show as the curtain rose. When they started singing I realized that my mom had pulled out all the stops. She must have switched up her set list after my call last night to show off her club more. I smirked and shook my head; I would have to thank her as I looked at the stunned and horrified looks of the club. I did my best to keep my expression similar to theirs.

No one really talked to me about what we saw as we left the building. I could see that they were all still trying to process what had happened. I knew that tomorrow would bring about some strong reactions, and boy was I right; it just wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

Mr. Schue once again called an early morning meeting in the auditorium. I thought it was going to be about our set list for sectionals, but I was far from the true reason.

"Guys there is something that I have to tell you, and I know it's going to be hard but it has nothing to do with you guys. I have to leave the school, and quit teaching." Schue told us with a pained expression.

"You're leaving us? When?" Artie asked. It was the question on all of our minds.

"Well, I've given my two weeks' notice, but I promise I'm gonna find you guys a great replacement before I go." Schue replied without going into much detail.

"Is this 'cause those Carmel kids were so good? Because we can work harder." Mercedes asked.

I spoke up "This isn't fair Mr. Schuester. We can't do this without you." Any decent coach wouldn't leave his kids like this. What could possess this man to quit a job he loves.

"So does that mean that I don't have to be in the club anymore or…?" Finn asked from the background. I glared at him.

Schue interrupted me before I could say anything. "This isn't about you guys. Being an adult is about having to make difficult choices. It's not like high school. Sometimes you have to give up the things you love. One day you guys are going to grow up and understand that. I have loved being your teacher." Schue said before walking out of the auditorium. I could see the tears in his eyes. What could possibly be so bad that the man had to quit his job?

"What are we going to do?" Kurt asked as soon as it became apparent that Schue wasn't coming back and after Finn had left too.

I took a deep breath before standing in front of the group. "The only thing we can do is continue on. I vote that we continue to hold practices and wait for Mr. Schuester to decide he doesn't want to leave or we get a new advisor."

For once everyone agreed with me, and we all made plans to meet up today at the normal time. Kurt was going to deliver the news to Finn while I planned out what we were going to do. School was quite boring that day so I had ample time to plan out today's practice. I was thinking that we could go over songs that we wanted to sing at sectionals, if we ever got the proper number of members.

I was on pins and needles waiting for school to be over. I really wanted today's practice to go well. I was finally going to get to show them what a proper practice looked like. I'm sure they would balk at my being leader, but it would be for the best.

I walked into the glee room only moments after the bell rang. There was no time for dawdling in the hallway. Thankfully Brad was there and I was able to give him some sheet music to look over before we started practice. I had picked songs that only showcased my voice, but it worked for my character.

I patiently waited for the other members to show up, and ten minutes later I was rewarded with all the members minus Finn. Honestly I wasn't surprised, based on his comments earlier I knew he wasn't there by choice.

"Okay group, with Mr. Schue gone I have taken it upon myself to appoint myself as he interim director." I said.

"Whoa hold up," Mercedes interjected, "what gives you the right to take over. Kurt and I should take over since we've been here the longest."

"And frankly, we don't even know if you're qualified to take over as director. You've only been here for two weeks now." Kurt said coming to Mercedes's defense.

"Okay," I slowly nodded, "You guys have a point. You don't know me very well, or my qualifications. How about we have a competition, each of us who want to take over will perform a song. Those who don't want the position and Brad, if he agrees, will judge it."

I looked around and everyone was nodding, including Brad. This was a chance to show off my talent, and blow them away.

"Alright, who wants to run practices?" I asked. Only Kurt and Mercedes stepped forward. "Okay, it looks like there are three candidates and three judges. Hopefully we can resolve this quickly. Why don't you and Mercedes decide who wants to go first, and I'll go last." I directed towards Kurt.

Kurt and Mercedes looked at each other before Mercedes stepped back. We went and sat on the risers too give Kurt the space. He spoke with Brad for a moment before singing a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Blackbird by the Beatles. It honestly took my breath away. I had known he had a stunning voice, but this was just beautiful, though I felt sad because I knew that I would still out perform him.

Mercedes high-fived Kurt as she moved to take the floor. Again she consulted with Brad about her choice before taking a deep breath. When she started singing I couldn't help but smile, though predictable Whitney Houston's I look to you sounded great coming from her. It showed the power and range of her voice. She was still a little raw, but I felt that with some help she could be a powerhouse.

Finally it was my turn and I made the snap decision to do this without piano accompaniment. My voice was good enough to blow them away, and I wanted them to get the full effect, so I whispered to Brad that he could just sit there and listen. I took a deep breath and started my go to song, Don't Rain on My Parade. I had adored the song since I was small, and had practiced it more than any other song I knew. Therefore I wasn't shocked by the awe I could see on their faces. I knew what my voice did to people, and I used it to my full advantage.

When I finished my song the three of us stepped in the hall so we wouldn't influence the judging. I hoped that the others would vote for me and this wouldn't turn into a popularity contest, but I couldn't be certain. I was waiting on pins and needles for them to tell us to come back in.

"Where did you learn to sing like that?" Kurt asked me.

I shrugged, "My mom and dads sing so I've pretty much sang my whole life, but I started vocal lessons when I was two. I loved to sing so much that I begged and begged for voice lessons, and my dad's caved. I've been training ever since then at least three times a week even during breaks."

"Wow," was all they said before the door was opened. I nervously walked into the room while still keeping my head held high. We all stood at the front of the room and waited.

Tina stood and looked at all of us before saying, "We discussed this and based on talent we were tied, but we felt that Rachel being new had something she could teach us." She turned and faced Kurt and Mercedes, "Let's face it, we all know we're good but we're getting nowhere. We need a new take on this. This is our last year and I want to win something, maybe Rachel can help us do that. So we decided that we need to give her a chance."

Tina smiled at me as sat back down. Kurt and Mercedes nodded their acceptance and sat down. I let out my biggest smile and nodded. "Okay, the first thing we need to do is warm up. Each one of you sounds amazing, but you will all sound so much better after a proper warm-up." Mercedes looked like she going to protest so I raised my hand, "I know it sound odd, but does your voice ever hurt after you sing those really powerful notes," she nodded and I continued, "With a proper warm-up your voice won't hurt anymore and you'll be able to sing for longer."

The practice was amazing. I knew it wouldn't last very long, but for now the entire group was listening to me. It gave me a sense of power, but I tried to keep it from going to my head. After all, I know that at some time they would balk at my control or we would get a new director. I was going to enjoy it while I could.

Practice ended with smiles and laughter, and I left the room feeling better than I had ever felt at this school. That was until I felt that ice cold fury of a frozen slushy hit me in the back. I spun around to berate my attacker when a second slushy was thrown. I got hit with three additional slushies before someone pushed me down. The only thing I heard while they were walking away was, "Take that you freak." I couldn't help the tears that fell. I had gone from feeling so happy to being attacked. The difference was painful and disorienting.

I don't know how long I sat on the floor before I felt someone coming towards me. I quickly wiped my eyes and scrambled to my feet. Jordan was headed towards me with this heartbroken look on her face. She came and gathered me in a hug despite the fact that I was still sticky with slushy.

"Come on Songbird, let's get you home and in a hot bath then I'll go get some treats for us." Jordan said as she used a tissue to try and wipe off my face.

"I'm okay." I told her, "I'm going to be okay."

She took my hand and led me out of school to the car. I hesitated at getting in the car but Jo assured me that she needed to get it detailed anyway. I just sighed and got into the car. I don't know why I felt so down after that attack, but I just couldn't understand why they would hate me that much.

When we got home I went upstairs and drew a very hot bath so I could soak for a while. I added a bit of lavender bubble bath and lit a few candles to help relax me. My last act before getting in the tub involved starting my relaxing playlist. I sunk into the tub and let it wash away the hurt I felt. School hadn't even been in session for two weeks yet and I had been hit with over twenty slushies including the five today.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew the bubbles were almost gone and the water had turned lukewarm. I heard a knock at the door and Jordan called out to me to see if I was okay. I called out an affirmative, and started getting out of the tub. The soak did me good and I already felt better. I couldn't wait for that treat Jordan was talking about. I walked down to the basement with my fluffy pajamas on to see takeout cartons littering the coffee table.

"Hey Rach, do you feel better?" Jordan asked as she finished putting a DVD in the player.

I shrugged and plopped down on the couch, "Yeah, but I'm sure that a good movie will do some good."

"Good, I've put on a light-hearted classic, Finding Nemo," I couldn't help but giggle. Jordan ignored me and continued, "I also picked up a selection of vegan food from the Chinese place in town and grabbed us some organic ice cream."

"You got us ice cream? That is definitely not vegan." I told her shocked. Jordan had refused to eat or use anything from animals since she knew it was possible. Sometimes I cheated with my Daddy and we went and ate ice cream together, but we never did it when Jordan was with us.

She shrugged, "I found a place that does organic everything. I took a trip out there one day when you were at school. The place is actually cool. All the cows are treated nicely and voluntarily come up to the barn just to get milked. I just figured that maybe I needed to open my mind to some possibilities."

Jordan sat next to me and I snuggled into her, "Well if you're open to possibilities I think I am too. I think I'm going to tell Tina. It would be really nice to have a friend at school."

I felt a kiss on my head then felt Jordan's chest move, "Why don't you invite her over tomorrow after school and tell her."

"That sounds like a great idea," I agreed.

After that the conversation died off they sat in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. Finding Nemo played in the background as Jo and I gorged ourselves on Chinese food and then the best ice cream I had ever had. None of that made the abuse I had to receive okay but if I could home to a support system like this then I could endure anything.

I walked into school the next day with my head held high. I didn't want anyone to know that just yesterday I had broken down in the hallway. As far as I was concerned it was in the past and it was going to stay there, besides there were several things I needed to do today. First on my list was to talk with Finn about why he wasn't at glee practice, and then I was going to find Tina.

I wandered around school looking for Finn before I finally saw him at his locker. I walked up just as he closed it and he just stood there and stared at me like an idiot.

"Didn't see you at glee club yesterday." I commented. I didn't want to come off as accusatory and scare him away.

"Is that still happening?" He asked perplexed

I quickly fixed that misconception, "I've taken over."

"Oh," was all he replied before I continued.

"I'm interim director, but I expect the position to become permanent." I told him, leaving out all of the details of yesterday's sing-off.

"Hi, Finn, RuPaul," came out of nowhere. I turned and saw that it was Quinn and my cheerleader, whose name I still didn't know, just as Finn mumbled a soft hey.

"What are you doing talking to her?" Quinn demanded to know. I could tell by her body language that she did not like me, and it strangely made me feel satisfied. Even if the jerks of the school tossed slushies at me I could feel proud because the head of the school saw me as a threat.

Finn seemed at a loss for words so I decided to help him out, "Science project —we're partners."

I could tell that Quinn didn't believe me, but Finn seemed glad when she changed the subject even though it was about Christ Crusaders.

"Look, I should go." Finn told me as the duo walked away. "I can't do glee anymore. It conflicts with.."

"Your reputation?" I butted in with. I had thought it would come down to this but I had hoped I was wrong. In my old school being in the glee club meant you were at the top of the food chain, here it meant you were worse than anyone else.

"You've really got something, Finn, and you're throwing it away." I told him as one more desperate plea to get him to come back to glee. Unfortunately I didn't see a way for New Directions to win nationals without him. There wasn't another male voice in the group that was up for the task.

"I'm going to be late." He said, and I could see that he really wanted to get away from me. I could see that he was thinking, but I didn't know if it was enough.

I threw out my last hook, "You can't keep worrying about what people think, Finn. You're better than all of them." Now I would have to wait to see if I caught anything.

After Finn left I just kind of shook my head and then went in search of Tina. I wanted to catch her before the bell rang so I could ask about her free period. I thought we had the same one, and just wanted to make sure and set a meeting place if we did. I made my way towards her locker dodging a few jocks holding slushies on the way. Thankfully when I got close I could see that she was there. Unfortunately she was surrounded by the rest of the glee club. I had to think of something fast that she would see through and that the others would believe.

"Hello everyone." I said as I got closer with a thousand watt smile plastered on my face.

"What you want?" Mercedes asked sounding slightly irritated.

I just shook it off and set my plan in motion. "Tina do you have study hall third period." She nodded and I laid all of my cards down on the table, "Would you like to get together somewhere and work on singing? This past week I've noticed that your upper range could use a bit of work to fully utilize it the way you should be able too."

"Uh-h-hh-h…" She stuttered before I discreetly winked at her. "Su-sure, we cou-could meet in the ch-choir room."

"Good" I nodded before heading off towards my locker. I didn't want to stick around because it was quite obvious from the way the others were looking at me that they didn't want me there. I was fine with that because I did not want to be there.

I patiently waited for the time to pass by, and third period came quickly enough. I hurried to the chorus room so that I wouldn't be late and softly said hey as I saw that she was there before me.

"H-hi," Tina replied nervously.

"It's okay Tina, you don't have to stutter. I had a really good friend who had a stutter, and you can tell that yours is faked." I put my hands up, "Not that there is anything wrong with faking a stutter, you just don't have to pretend around me. Actually the reason I wanted to talk to you was about pretending to be something you're not." I moved to take a seat next to her, making sure that I could see the entrances to the room. I really didn't want what I was about to say being overheard by someone.

Tina blushed and hid her face behind her hair, "Do you think anyone else knows?"

I patted her on the back, "No, no one else knows and your secret is safe with me."

She smiled at me, "Thank you. Your secret will be safe with me too."

I took a deep breath, "Well it all started a couple months ago. My dads told my sister and I that we were moving, and I wasn't very happy. My sister came up with an idea, and the more I thought about it the more I liked it." I shrugged and studied my nails, "The idea revolves around my acting ability because I truly want to be on Broadway. We worked out a personality and quirks for a character, and during school hours I play that character."

"So you're not normally so bossy and loud?" Tina asked after she had thought about it for a moment.

I couldn't help but laugh, "No I'm actually really laid back. My mom is really bossy and loud, and we based that part of the character on her. She was an actual Broadway star and has worked with me to achieve my goals."

Tina nodded, "Okay I think I've got it all. This is like method acting, and you use what you know to make it work?"

I grinned, "Yup, that's exactly what it is. We figured that this would give me an edge at college next year."

"You and your sister, right?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, she's my biggest supporter for everything I do. You should come meet her today after school. I'm sure you would love her." I gushed. Jordan and I really were closer than most biologically related siblings.

"Okay," Tina laughed, "I can stop by today."

After that things just seemed to really click. Tina and I talked about nothing important, but we clicked just like I did with Sophia. It was nice to find someone who I felt comfortable around in McKinley. The bell rang and we both headed off to our next destinations. Today was looking good, and I just hopped nothing would go wrong.

When glee practice started Artie was oddly absent, but we continued with practice anyway. We really needed to work on dance moves, and Artie was really good. He normally got the moves after one or two demonstrations, so he wasn't necessary for the practice.

We had been going over the dance moves for ten minutes all while I was getting increasingly frustrated. No one was getting the moves, and I had to keep redoing them. "Look guys, these steps are not hard. I've been doing them since preschool."

I can see that they're all just as frustrated as me, and Kurt spoke out. "I'm sorry. Did I miss the election for Queen? Because I didn't vote for you."

"I know what I'm talking about. I won my first dancing competition at three months old!" I practically yelled at them. I knew that there would come a time when they would question the decision to make me the leader, but I hadn't expected it so soon.

I spun around as I heard someone coming across the stage. I looked over and saw Finn pushing Artie. I was curious about why he was here, but didn't want to tip my hand so I offered up a, "This is a closed rehearsal." Honestly it was the only thing that I could think of that made it sound like I was upset with him.

Finn looked contrite as he began talking, "Look, I owe you guys an apology. I never should've quit. I don't want to be the guy that just drives around throwing eggs at people."

"That was you?" I said shocked. It had happened over the weekend, and I had never found out who did it. Now that I knew I was truly upset. It had taken me hours to get that stuff out of my hair. Now that I knew who did it I would have to come up with a suitable punishment.

Kurt jumped in too listing some of Finn's crimes, "You and your friends threw pee balloons at me."

"I know," Finn began.

Kurt wasn't finished though and continued, "You nailed all of my lawn furniture to my roof."

This time Finn successfully butted in, "I wasn't actually there for that, but I'm really sorry. Look that isn't who I am, and I'm tired of it. This is what I want to be doing, with you guys. I used to think that this was, like, the lamest thing on earth, and maybe it is, but we're all here for the same reason because we want to be good at something."

"Artie, you play guitar, right? Think you could recruit the jazz band?" Finn asked. I had no idea where he was going with this, but the others seemed to be responding well to it.

Artie nodded in response to Finn's question, "I do have some pull there."

"Alright," Finn chuckled, "Mercedes, we need new costumes, a-and they have got to be cool. Can you do that?"

Mercedes grinned and gestured down her body, "Damn, don't you see what I've got on?"

"Rachel, you can do choreography." He told me before moving on to the last member of our group. "Tina, what are you good at?"

Poor Tina being put on the spot like that, even though she didn't really have a stuttering problem, she was still shy. She barely stuttered out I before Finn moved on, "We'll figure something out for you." I rolled my eyes, and A for effort but a C for follow through on trying to be nicer.

"And, what are you bringing to the table Justin Timberlake?" Mercedes asked, voicing the question that had begun to form in my mind.

Finn grinned a cocky little grin and stated, "I've got the music."

I'll be the first to admit that I thought that the others would balk at being told what to do by one of their tormentors, but I was wrong. Everyone snapped to attention and began doing what Finn had asked them too. Artie went to get the band, while Mercedes grabbed Tina and Kurt and they began preparing the costumes. I shook my head in amazement. Maybe I needed to work on making Finn see things my way so that he could boss around the others.

I sauntered over to him just as he was finishing up with Brad, and placed my hand on his arm to stop him from moving away, "You never did tell me what changed your mind. This morning you seemed dead set against coming back to glee club."

He just shrugged and looked embarrassed, "You did actually. What you said this morning really got to me. I don't want to be a loser for the rest of my life, and glee is something that makes me happy. Maybe if I start changing now I'll be able to get out of here."

I grinned up at him, "That is fantastic Finn. I am proud of you for realizing that you need to change to improve. I think that if you really try you'll be able to do anything you want."

Finn grinned down at me and opened his mouth to say something, but at that exact moment Artie came back with the band and the others called us over to try on the costumes. Finn went to deal with getting the band set up, and I went to look at the simple costumes Mercedes had come up with. There wasn't really much to work with and she honestly did the best she could, but we ended up with simple red shirts and blue jeans. Luckily they had clothes in everyone's size and we were able to change into them. By the time we had changed and figured out who would be singing what the band was ready.

The opening bars to "Don't Stop the Beat" rang out and I could feel electricity that hadn't been present before. It was like the club was finally realizing that they could be great and were putting in the effort. The song was flawless. It was better than I had thought it would be. There were no sudden stops or outbursts. We were able to move through the entire song without even hitting a wrong note. When the song finished I heard clapping coming from the audience. When I looked up and saw Schue I was shocked. He was already supposed to be gone. What was he doing here?

"That was good guys, a nine. We need a ten. Rachel, you need to hit the ones and fives. Finn, I think if we worked on it, you could hit a high B." Schue said as he moved towards the stage. I was a little affronted by his assessment, but I had been a little weak there. If my mother had been coaching us she would have called it a failure. Maybe Schue would make a good coach.

"So, does this mean that you're staying?" Finn asked hopefully.

Schue smiled, "It would kill me to see you win nationals without me."

We all smiled and looked at each other. He had a different style than I was used to, but I could see the potential he had. Maybe just maybe we would be able to pull off a win at nationals, provided of course that we got the required minimum number of members.

Practice lasted for another half hour, and we polished up our routine. It felt nice not to have to boss anyone around, not that they listened to me anyway. If only they knew exactly how much I knew about this stuff.

When practice finally ended I waited around for everyone to leave before I made my way out of the building. I had texted Jo earlier to tell her Tina was going to bring me home, but I still wanted to make sure no one saw us. We had discussed it during our study period and had decided that it would be best if we kept our friendship from others. This way Tina wouldn't fall any farther down the social ladder, since I seemed to be at the very bottom.

We chatted about practice as Tina drove towards my house. It was basically small talk, and it was a comfortable drive. I was a little nervous about Tina and Jordan meeting, but then again I was always nervous when Jordan met new people. Sometimes she did fine, and other times she had panic attacks that sent her to the hospital. Hopefully this would be one of the better times.

When we pulled into the drive Jordan was standing on the porch waiting for us.

"That's my sister Jordan. She's cool, but sometimes it takes her a little time to warm up to people, just be patient with her." I told Tina before we got out of the car.

Tina nodded and as she approached Jordan she stuck her hand out, "Hi, I'm Tina. I go to school with Rachel."

Jordan accepted the hand and smiled, "Hi Tina, I'm Jordan. Why don't you come in, I've made some black and white cookies."

"I've never had those before, are they good?" Tina asked as she followed Jordan in the house.

I let out a relieved sigh. The meeting had gone spectacularly and I now had a friend at school. The week had taken a bad turn earlier, but it was finally looking up.


	2. Episode 2

******_A little shorter than I thought, but I hope you enjoy it. _**

**Rachel's POV**

The weekend went better than I had thought it would. Jordan and Tina got along great, and it turned out that Tina was a closet cook. They spent most of their time in the kitchen much to my fathers and my delight. I'm pretty sure I gained a couple of pounds in the few hours Tina was over.

I had Jordan drop me off at school on Monday, and to my surprise I arrived at the same time as Schue. I quickly caught up to him so I could discuss the upcoming competition.

"I went to the library, and I got some sheet music, and I wanted to run some songs by you that feature me heavily on lead vocal", I told him as soon as I got near. I didn't really care if my voice was featured, but my mom always featured her best performers in competitions, and then held showcases for the others. If it was one thing I knew how to do it was win.

"Thanks, Rach, but I already got one picked out." Schue said as he sped up a little. It was almost as if he didn't want to talk to me. This man was so frustratingly incompetent that I just wanted to shake him until he realized that we should have started working on the set over the summer.

All of the sudden I felt someone start tugging on the handle of my bag, and when I went to tell them off I heard Finn say, "Let me help you with that."

I smiled up at him, "Thanks, Finn. You're so chivalrous," I was really grateful that he had taken the stupid thing. It had looked cute when I first bought it, but it was a pain in the butt to drag around everywhere. It always wanted to flip and be ornery.

I gave him a big smile as he dropped me off at my locker before opening it. Finn's locker was quite close to mine so I was there when Quinn walked up. I discretely looked around hoping to find the Latina, Santana, or that's what Tina had called her anyway.

Quinn started trying to convince Finn that he needed to quit Glee so he wouldn't ruin his popularity status. I couldn't help rolling my eyes at her. How could a girl become so many stereotypes? She was the stuck up, preppy, holy than thou, blonde cheerleader. It had to be exhausting to be her.

What the hell, I jerk in a funny way trying to keep my head from whipping around. Quinn had just told Finn that he could touch her breasts if he quit glee club. Touch her breasts? There was no way glee was going to when out over that. I sighed knowing that soon enough I was going to have to find a new male counterpart or give up my fourth consecutive title.

When Finn turns Quinn down I can't keep myself from looking at him. Quinn sees me and glares. When Finn leaves she marches over to my locker. She looks really pissed, and I can't help but notice that pissed looks good on her, much better than the fake she was giving Finn.

"Eavesdrop much?" Quinn demanded to know as she got right up in my personal space. "Time for some girl talk, man hands. You can dance with him. You can sing with him, but you will never have him." She tells me all while her face is turning an interesting shade. She really is mad, and I can't help but feel a little sorry for her. I am in no way interested in her boyfriend, but I know teenage boys enough to know that I had to pretend to be. Like it or not this school had no real male talent, and I really wanted to win Nationals again this year.

I shrugged and smirked a little, "I understand why you'd be threatened. Finn and I have made a connection, but I'm an honorable person. I don't need to steal your man. I have plenty of suitors of my own. Everyday glee's status is going up, and yours is going down. Deal with it"

When I finished my little put down I turned to head to my first period with a smirk on my face. I barely had time to blink before the slushy hit me. I would like to think that the blonde had nothing to do with this, but it felt to perfect, mere moments after she warned me away from her boyfriend I get humiliated in the hallway.

I squared my shoulders and turned around before opening my locker to get a change of clothes. This was just another small bump on my road to stardom. Oh how it would feel to write this in my autobiography and tell the world about how my acting was so phenomenal that I fooled an entire school.

I finally made it to class, and the teacher didn't even comment on my tardiness. It was much too common to cause a scene. The slushy had but me in a bad mood, and I was hard pressed to keep up my cheerful attitude. I really didn't want to be around people, so I was really upset when Schue called a study period meeting. Strangely enough all of the glee club members had the same study period as Schue.

I didn't have to wait very long for my attitude to start annoying people. Mr. Schue made us sing "Le Freak" and I got bored and added some extra pizzazz to the disco song. The choreography was terrible and I decided to add a small ballet move to add some more visual interest. Unfortunately I accidently brought my foot to close to Mercedes face, and she freaked out and started yelling at me and surprisingly at Mr. Schue. I couldn't help but agree with the diva about the song choice. There's just no edge behind it. How were we supposed to get noticed if we're singing some stupid disco song that doesn't even showcase anything? I needed to come up with something soon that will get us noticed by more of the school.

The whole club is now arguing with Mr. Schue. No one wants to sing the stupid song in front of the school. I halfheartedly chime in, but I have no idea what to do I do have all week to come up with something that everyone will agree with. I'm grateful that I now have something to distract myself with. I was much too angry at Quinn for my own good. I didn't want to risk blowing everything I had worked so hard to set up.

Lunch time finally came around, and I couldn't wait to get to the lunch room. Jordan had made her incredible vegan lasagna and had sent me to school with a container, and a vegan sugar cookie. I could feel my mouthwatering at the thought of the delicious meal I was about to eat. After I bullied the lunch ladies into heating up my lunch, I slid into a seat at the table the rest of the glee club member, minus Finn, were sitting.

I sat there and listened to Kurt and Mercedes gossip, and used my lunch to excuse the fact that I didn't talk. In reality I was actually looking around the cafeteria checking out the school body. I grinned to myself, the majority had no idea who I was, but I was going to make sure that after Friday's pep rally everyone was going to know my name. The only problem was that I had no idea how I was going to accomplish that.

Thoughts about Friday were still running around my head as I left the lunchroom. Math was next on my schedule, and I never paid attention so I was thinking of songs for us to sing on Friday when I walked into someone. I fell to the ground from the force of impact, and looked up to discover that I had run into the Latina cheerleader that had occupied so much of my thoughts.

The girl snarled at me, "Watch where you're going Treasure Trail. I don't want to catch whatever you have." Quinn and another blonde cheerio laughed, and I felt my cheeks grow warm. This was not how I wanted to meet the mysterious girl again. Every time we ran into each other I ended up getting insulted.

If I weren't playing a role I would have said something snaky back to the Latina, but forced myself to sit there and take the abuse. I knew that Jordan would have a field day when I came home talking about the bitchy attitude from a girl who's name I didn't even know turned me on. I mentally shrugged. I'm a teenager, with teenage hormones.

When I did nothing but stare up at the Latina, Quinn called to the girl, "Come on Santana, Coach Sylvester wants to meet with us." She then glared at me, "Remember what I said RuPual. Stay away from what is mine." After that parting shot all three Cheerios walked away leaving me still on the floor. I shook my head before getting up and finishing my day.

I took a deep breath as I walked down the hallway with my smile on its brightest setting. Today was Tuesday and I still hadn't come up with any ideas for the assembly on Friday, but I wasn't going to let that get me down. My game plan today was to get more attention from adults. I had set my sights on Mrs. Pillsbury, and had come up with the perfect plan. I had been observing her since the beginning, mostly because I knew I'd have to directly involve her in some way, and had figured out her routine. She always went to the bathroom on the third floor, the one farthest from everything. As if germs couldn't get live in there.

Lunch had went well and I ended up leaving without getting a slushy, so I would call that a success. I quickly headed towards the third floor bathroom. I had to be in place before Ms. Pillsbury got there. Nothing would go right if she got there before me.

I closed the door to the stall just as the main door opened. I smiled in relief; I had made it before Ms. Pillsbury. I waited until she was finished using the bathroom before I started making retching noises. Now I was just waiting for her to find me.

"Rachel, did you just throw up?"

Score! I am so good at manipulating people it's scary at times. I tell her no, because truthfully I hadn't, but she didn't believe me.

"You missed the toilet." What? I looked down and sure enough there was a pile of vomit. How in the world did that get there?

"The girl who was throwing up before me left that," I improvise. I hope she buys it, "I tried, but I guess I just don't have a gag reflex."

"One day when you're older, that'll turn out to be a gift," she tells me. Is she joking? That has to be one of the most inappropriate things anyone has ever told me, not to mention one of the silliest. It won't ever come in handy because I definitely will never do anything involving my lack of a gag reflex with guys. Ms. Pillsbury is so easy to lead astray. I almost feel sad that as an adult she can't tell that I'm faking everything.

Then she makes me go to her office, which is covered with ridiculous pamphlets. I wonder where she got her degree, a crackerjack box? This is going better than I had planned, but it still felt ridiculous. She gives me a pamphlet called "So You Like Throwing Up" I have to stare at it for a few seconds just to keep myself from laughing.

Very seriously she tells me, "Rachel, bulimia is a very messy, serious disease."

Now that I have her attention I need to deflect it, just like a normal teenager would. I just want to be on her radar, I don't want her to call my dads so I tell her, "I don't have bulimia. I tried it and failed and won't ever attempt it again." She doesn't seem to believe so I add in a soft "grossed me out" and kept me head down. I wanted her to believe that I was ashamed, but still sincere.

"Okay. But I still want to talk about the feelings that you had that led up to you wanting to puke your guts out."

Darn, now I was going to have to make up some stupid teenage logic. Then it hit's me and I tell her, "I want to be thinner. Prettier like that Quinn girl." She asks me why and I may get into the answer just a little too much as I lean into the desk exclaiming, "Have you ever liked somebody so much you just wanna lock yourself in your room, turn on sad music and cry?" She shakes her head no, but I can see right through her. She's such a terrible liar.

Ms. Pillsbury starts rambling, trying to cover up her lie, but all she does is end up describing Mr. Schue in her hypothetical situation. I just want to grab her by the shoulders sometimes and shake her. It's so obvious that she and Mr. Schue like each other. They just need to open their eyes and realize it themselves. I try to tune out her silly advice. Maybe if my visit here was anything but staged, I might find her advice useful, but it is and I don't. I notice that she's staring at Mr. Schue who's in the hallway…. Wait what? Why is Mr. Schue even in the hallway when he has class this period? That's just weird.

I finally tune back into what Ms. Pillsbury is saying just as she says the only useful thing during the entire conversation. She mentions that common interests are a way to start a relationship. I can't believe I hadn't thought of that. I was so focused on making the glee club better, that I forgot any other. Maybe the way to get Finn to notice me is by noticing the things he likes.

Most of the week passed by without much happening; I convinced the glee club to rebel against Schue, and I made headway with getting Finn to like me. At this point I was doing it out of spite more than anything else. Quinn had been hardcore bullying me during this time, and I wanted to get even. Taking her prized boyfriend seemed like the best way.

The end of Friday classes came around and I was tired. I had been slushied twelve times since Monday. Four of those were today right after I got out of Principle Figgins' office after the assembly. To make matter worse, I didn't have any more clothes with me because of the previous eight slushies I had received. Thankfully I had already texted Jordan to come early. I really wish I had thought to drive the car to school.

I could count the positives of the week on one hand. I'm pretty sure the idiot Finn is in love with me already, and finally I swear that Santana stormed out of the gym after the assembly because she was jealous. I know for a fact that she ordered one of the slushies thrown at me. The other three felt like Quinn, but really can you blame the girl? I did just hump her boyfriend in front of the whole school.

I let out a particularly devious chuckle as I hopped into Jordan's car. She just shook her head and told me to not get anything on her seats. I'm happy that she doesn't press. I'm just happy going through my thoughts. The looks of shock and awe from today will keep me going for a long time. No one ever said I was a nice girl. Think about it, I'm lying to the entire school and trying to break up a couple just to for the fun of it. I'd say when it comes down to it that I thrive on chaos.

Jordan poked me delicately in the shoulder when we got home. I couldn't even remember the drive; my mind had been too busy. I smiled at her and ran into the house and up to my room. I need a shower and fast. The slushies were horribly sticky if you didn't get them off fast.

**Jordan's POV**

I sighed as I walked into the house wheeling along Rachel's bag. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I realized that Rachel would get into it, but to take it this far. Thankfully I had been home and had intercepted the principle's call. I needed to sit down with her and really talk about this. While the behavior was classic Rachel the fallout wasn't something she was used to dealing with. I loved her so much, and wanted to make sure that the slushies, and names weren't harming her. Well that and tell her not to take it this far again. She could have gotten expelled, and that wouldn't look good on her college apps. Sometimes she just drove me insane with her stupid stunts.

I went to the kitchen to start pulling out the things to make cookies. Rachel and I did our best talking when we were in the kitchen. There was just something liberating about having something to do when you bared your soul… or well just gossiped in general. Any lulls in the conversation were never awkward because everyone had something to do.

I was just reaching for the flour when the doorbell rang. It confused me a little because I didn't go out much, and Rachel hadn't told me anyone was coming over. I just shrugged my shoulders and headed to the door thinking that Tina had come over or someone from Columbus had driven down.

I opened the door, and was stumped. There's this Latina girl in a ridiculously short cheerleading outfit standing on the porch. I figure this has to be an impromptu visit because Rachel would have told me if someone was coming over. I don't handle strangers very well. I glance up the stairs, and can make out the shower still running. Well damn, what am I going to do now? I started trying to take measured breaths trying my best not to have a panic attack.

Apparently I'm failing because the girl is backing up with her hands raised, "I was looking for the Berry residence. Is Rachel here?" I hold up my hand to stop her, and thankfully she does stop. I beckon her in the house and point towards the couch. My head is feeling so light. My breathing is all over the place and all I know is that I need Rachel. Rachel has always had the ability to calm me down.

When the girl moves to come inside the house I can feel my heart trying to burst out of my chest. I can't believe I invited her in. What if she's really here to kill us? A cheerleader outfit would be the perfect disguise to get into a person's house. Oh god, what did I do?

**Santana's POV**

My alarm clock went off at four thirty on the first day of school. This was the end of the line for me, my senior year. Even though I was at the top of the food chain, the victory felt hollow. B, Q, and I had fought tooth and nail to get to the top, and what did we have to show for it? All we had was the fear of the entire student body directed at us, and bitchin GPAs. I sighed getting out of bed, maybe college would be different.

It only took me minutes to get ready for school, which was good because I had to be there at five. Cheerleading had started out as a way to stay in shape and get scholarships for school and had turned into my life. There was rarely anything that I did that didn't have to do with the Cheerios. I just had to suck it up and last one more year before it was all over.

I ran out of the house at a quarter till to hop in Q's car. She had turned sixteen before B and I so she ended up driving us to school every day. We balanced it out by driving on weekends and after school. Every school day, and quite a few non-school days Sue made the cheerleaders, Q, B, and I though we're the best, run drills from five until eight.

After a horrendous workout and a decent shower I made my way down the hall to my locker. I must admit that the rush of power from watching the crowds part before me was something that got me through the day. Sometimes I just wished they parted out of something other than fear.

Other times I wish someone would take the newbies in hand and tell them the rules of the school. I mean what kind of asshat runs into a cheerleader, forgetting the fact that I'm a co-head of the squad.

I stare at the small brunette sprawled on the ground and she takes my breathe away. I've never seen anyone who looked like her. I doubt that there is anyone like her in the world.

I panicked, I wasn't out to school and felt that my thoughts were on my face. I did what I could to deflect any potential problems. "Watch where the fuck you're going manhands," I told her before storming off. In reality I was running off so I wouldn't have to deal with these new feelings.

"What was that all about?" Quinn asked me when we finally got to our lockers.

I shrugged, "Nothing, she just should have been watching where she was going." I gave myself a little shake. I needed to forget the little brunette and just make my way through my last year at school. I had more important things to do I had to man up and be myself.

After that first day at school I tried hard to keep my thoughts from the small girl. When I couldn't, I justified by thinking of way to bring her down, most of the time though I had to distract myself so I wouldn't think about what I would do to her once she was down. I put a lot of effort into avoiding her, and it helped that Quinn was dead set against her. It justified, at least to me, most of the things I said to her. Avoidance didn't last as long as I would have liked it too.

I was sitting on the bleachers bored as hell. Why did we have to have this stupid assembly anyway? The only good thing about it was the fact that we could heckle Homo Explosion, and the annoying diva, during their song. What a bunch of losers, singing about their feelings and shit. They made me want to barf. To make everything worse, Quinn's Neanderthal, I mean boyfriend, had joined and she wouldn't stop talking about it. She wouldn't stop talking about that damn dwarf either. This was getting ridiculous. I was tired of the petty high school drama that went on around me.

I was texting directions to the auditorium to Brit, and trying my best to tune out Quinn when the curtains opened and Homo Explosion started to sing. Their outfits were hideous, and were those knee pads? You had to be shitting me. WTF? Are they really doing this song? First they're too lame to do this, and second no one wants to see man-hands like that. Though now I see what Quinn means, that girl is all over Finn. She needs to calm the fuck down and head back to elementary school. I mean seriously no one should be that short and allowed to sing something like this.

Can she be any more obvious that she wants him. They're practically making love on the stage. I can feel myself getting more and more upset. This entire performance is getting under my skin a lot faster than I thought it would. I have to get out of there before I do something I would regret. Like going up there and showing her how it's really done. How to grind up against someone without it looking stupi…. Hold the hell up, I do not want to grind with treasure trail. This whole song is starting to mess with me.

I grab Quinn and Brittany and pull them out of the auditorium. Quinn is literally trembling with rage as she watches the end of the number right before I pull her out. I can't believe that RuPual would do something so obviously suicidal. If Quinn doesn't kill her, she'll be lucky. Gah! I need to stop thinking about her right now. This isn't going anywhere good. I feel like I need to wash my mind out with soap, or at least put up some more road blocks.

Quinn pulls Brit and me into a deserted classroom. She makes us sit down, and I can feel nothing good coming for this. This is one of the times I hate that she's my best friend. I just know that she's going to pull the best friend card and make me do something that I don't want to do. The bitch is ruthless when she wants to be. Makes me feel bad for man-han…. Damn I told myself I wasn't going to go there again. Quinn starts pacing and I decide that giving her my full attention is the only way to keep my thoughts straight.

I know my mouth is hanging open. I can feel it. She wants us to join Homo Explosion. She has got to be fucking kidding. This is so not going to happen. I do not want to have to spend any more time with the dwarf. Before I can even open my mouth to complain, Quinn shoots me a glare and threatens to put me at the bottom of the pyramid if I don't go through with this. This is ridiculous. I can't believe she is making us do this. I don't care if her boyfriend has wandering eyes, what the hell does that have to do with me?

To make my day even more of a nightmare, Quinn makes us practice this stupid Jesus song. Can she be anymore cliché? Whatever, the only thing keeping me going is the fact that we'll do the stupid audition today, and I won't have to fucking think about it anymore. It's like she's trying to ruin my life.

I learn to do the stupid song, and even perform it in front of Mr. Schuester at the end of the day. God, that man is so dense. Why in the world would the three most popular students join is lame little club. Luckily for us though he buys it, now we just have to convince Sue. Personally I hope she rips Quinn a new one for this stunt. It's not a secret at all that Sue loathes Mr. Schuester and his lame little band of freaks.

Sitting in Sue's office I keep my mouth shut. I'm going to let Quinn dig her own grave. I'm more than a little pissed that's she's blackmailing me into this. The last thing I want to do is spend time with a bunch of freaks.

Well, color me fucked, I would have never believed that Sue would be okay with this. It makes sense in a messed up way, but still. Sue was my only hope that I wouldn't have to do this. Now I have to spend time with the rag tag bunch of losers, and that insufferable midget.

Dios mio! This can't be my life. Something has to be done, and soon. I quickly say goodbye to Quinn and Brittany before I head into my house. I'm still fuming. This was my senior year and I was the most feared girl in school. Joining this lame ass club was going to ruin my reputation. I had to do something about it.

With my mind made up I hop in my car and head towards man hands house. I figured that the fastest way to end this problem was to beat up the cause. She needed to be put in her place, and I was going to do it. In this moment I'm actually happy that Quinn is a neurotic bitch. She had made me sneak a look at Berry's record to see what she was dealing with. I just happened to have memorized her address. Just to egg it or something. Yeah, I didn't want her address for any other purpose.

It only takes me a few minutes before I'm pulling up in front of the Berry house. I stomp up the stairs and ring the doorbell. I cross my arms and start tapping my foot. What the hell is taking her so long? Finally, to my relief, I can see a silhouette approach the door. Shit is about to go down Lima Heights Adjacent style. When the door opens, I'm a little confused. Instead of seeing RuPaul there's a gorgeous redhead. I don't understand it. I was sure that I had got the address right.

"I was looking for the Berry residence. Is Rachel here?" I ask the girl after she stands there looking at me for a few minutes. Something is wrong with her. She's breathing funny, but I just shrug it off. Doesn't mean anything to me. She holds up her hand and beckons me in. Maybe I do have the right place. I bet the girl is just mute. Seems likely that Berry would have a mute friend, it would mean she could talk more.

I sit down on the couch and look around a bit. The room is cozy, I'll admit that. As soon as the redhead is up the stairs I get up to look around. My eye is drawn to a picture on the wall. Man hands and the redhead are both in it with a short man that looks a lot like Rachel and a tall black man. It confuses me, but I just shrug deciding that I don't care.

I look at my watch and see that it's been five minutes. What the hell is taking her so long? I start towards the stairs and stomp my way up. If she's hiding out in her room then I'll just go to her. This showdown is going to happen and it's going to happen now. I see a door open just to the left of the stairs and go to it. I find Berry naked trying to calm down the redhead and my mind goes blank. The only thing I can think to say is, "Damn!"

**Jordan's POV**

"Take a deep breath, Star. Nothing is going to hurt you. I've got you. Just match your breathing to mine. That's it. I knew you could do it."

I don't know what I would do without Rachel. She is the only one who can stop my panic attacks without me going to the hospital. It was a lot to put on her shoulders, but she never minded. Rachel was always there for me when I needed her, just like I was always there when she needed me.

I'm sitting on Rachel's bed with my hand pressed against her heart. It grounds me to feel something so steady, so normal. I had used Rachel's heartbeat ground me for years.

My awareness is slowly coming back to me. I can feel my heart beat slow, and my breathing steady. Slowly the world is losing its blurry edges and becoming more focused.

I'm nearly out of my panic mode when I hear a voice. My breath hitches and I can feel the panic start to come back. Rachel's reaction is doing nothing to help me either. She tenses up and goes off on the intruder, "What are you doing here? How the hell did you even get into my house? In case you haven't noticed this isn't the school, so you need to leave."

I was trying to keep my breathing under control, and bless her soul the Latina must have figured something out. She made her excuses and claimed she was going to wait downstairs again. Before she could turn away I noticed a faint blush. Spending my energy on trying to figure out what had made the girl blush is what finally pulled me out of my attack. It was only then that I noticed that Rachel wasn't wearing any clothes.

I couldn't help myself. I just couldn't. I burst out laughing. Not only did I have a panic attack when the girl, that I'm pretty sure Rachel had been talking about, came over, but the girl had just seen Rachel in the buff. She even seemed to like the view.

I shook my head, and instead focused on reassuring Rachel that I was fine. I hadn't had a panic attack in almost six months. We had both thought they were over. Then again, I didn't know anyone in Lima. I wasn't one to put myself out there in a public setting. That's why I convinced Rachel to get dressed and go downstairs to talk to the girl, who I can only assume at this point is Santana. I had heard so much about her during the weeks since school had started. I was quite curious as to how Rachel would approach this. I wasn't sure if she'd keep in character, or maybe let the girl in.

**Santana's POV**

What's the hell is wrong with me? I couldn't even come up with any reply, let alone a witty one, when Rachel attacked me up there. It's just… The way she looked….

I sunk down into the couch and smacked my head against my hands. I was not going to think about that. There was no way that I could like HER. She is loud, obnoxious, and most importantly straight. Why else would she be going after Quinn's boy toy? I sighed, today was not going how I planned. Nothing lately seemed to be going my way. Brittany had been ignoring, or possibly just not getting, my hints that we go steady, and Puck was being a dick as always. His texts were getting raunchier as time went by. Though, if I had to see Berry in her birthday suit one more time I might take up his offer, just so I could relieve some stress.

I can't believe the dwarf had been straddling the redhead. What the fuck was up with that? Some weird shit was going on in this house, and I just wanted to say my bit then leave.

**Rachel's POV**

God this shower felt heavenly. I basked in the hot water as it washed away the bad from my day. There was nothing more that I liked to do after school than take a hot shower. Luckily it was Friday and I would get to, wait what was that. I heard a crash in my bedroom. I hopped out of my shower and grabbed my towel to see what was going on. It wasn't like Jordan to barge into my room without announcing herself.

When I make it out of the bathroom I am shocked to see Jo on the floor clutching her chest. Oh god she's having a panic attack. Shit, what the hell caused this? She hadn't had a panic attack for months. I drop everything and drag her onto my bed. She's going to need a soft place to lie in case she passes out again. Thankfully Dad and Daddy are doctors so I know what to do when this happens.

I carefully climb on top of her and use my weight to keep her from hurting herself. I grab her hand and place it against my heart, allowing it to calm her down. "Take a deep breath, Star. Nothing is going to hurt you. I've got you. Just match your breathing to mine. That's it. I knew you could do it." I softly tell her, trying to calm her down.

"Damn," I hear behind me. I whip my head around and see Santana in the doorway. I feel my body tense up as I glare at her.

My perfectly decent day is ruined. Heck, my whole weekend was probably going to be ruined. Jordan always had nightmares for days after a panic attack. Damn, Santana. Why the hell was she here anyway?

"What are you doing here? How the hell did you even get into my house? In case you haven't noticed this isn't the school, so you need to leave." I practically yell at her. I was not in the mood to deal with whatever crap she had to give me. Sure I had a crush on the Latina, but that didn't mean I liked her at the moment.

"Wha? Never mind I'm just going to go wait downstairs… Sorry about this..." The girl stuttered as she backed out of the door.

When my attention turned back to Jordan I noticed her breathing had become more labored. "Stupid girl, coming to MY house and panicking MY sister. What right does she have? What?" my mumblings come to an end as I feel Jordan laughing under me. "Way to do a 180 sister dear, care to let me in on the secret."

"You might want to put some clothes on Rach. I love you and everything, but I do believe that she thinks we have a different kind of relationship than we do. Not that you're not hot… you're just not my top." Jordan tells me gesturing to my lack of clothes.

Frustrated beyond belief I yanked open my closet. At least Jordan was feeling better. I could hear her still giggling behind me. I yanked out some jeans and an old worn t-shirt and put some underwear on. This was my time, and I was going to enjoy it how I wanted to. I couldn't seem to stop muttering under my breath. Stupid Santana and her showing up here uninvited and coming into my room when she shouldn't have.

I tried to pull up my pants, and somewhere something went wrong. I somehow ended up with both my feet in my right pant leg. I nearly fell over onto my dresser. Instead of the sympathy I expect, I look over and see Jordan's head buried in my pillow. Her shoulders are shaking with her laughter. How dare she. This wasn't the least bit funny. None of it was funny, but if she wanted to laugh I was going to give her something to laugh about. I untangle myself from my pants, and take a moment to prepare myself. Then I pounce.

**Santana's POV**

I'm trying to stay seated on the couch. Not that I really want to, but maybe if I listen I'll get to see Berry in the buff again. I had decided that I don't have to like the girl to want to get in her pants, or skirt as the case may be. Berry was seriously fine. I don't know why she wanted to hide it away behind those God awful sweaters. I did however like her skirts. Now that I had decided that it was okay, I was going to get full enjoyment out of them. After all, I did know what she was hiding beneath her clothes.

I'm sitting there trying hard not to twiddle my thumbs; I mean how long does it take to put on a fucking skirt. I know I could take it off her in a matter of seconds, when I hear a shriek and a thump coming from upstairs. Well no one ever accused me of not being a nosy bitch, so I of course ran up the stairs.

Dios mio! I have to start coming to the Berry house more often. First I walk in on the redhead rounding second with Berry, now Berry's straddling the redhead on the bed playing her own game of baseball. My day suddenly got better. Maybe if I play my cards right they'll let me join. It seemed obvious from the pictures that I'd seen downstairs that they were a couple. The two men in the picture must have been an older gay couple they sought advice from. I mean why else would two hot girls have a tickle fight on a bed when one was only half dressed?

**Jordan's POV**

Rachel's behavior after Santana had barged in was calming me in a way I hadn't imagined it would be. She just looked so cute, muttering under her breath as she jerked her clothing out of her closet. I couldn't help but giggle. I know it's wrong. She's upset and I shouldn't get pleasure out of it, but she's just so darn cute when she's mad. It doesn't happen often enough for me to ever get used to it. I have a feeling that with this new girl in the picture, it will become a common occurrence.

I saw her put both her feet in the same pant leg, but before I could tell her she had already tried to pull them up. I tried so hard to muffle the sound of my laughter. It seemed to be going okay. Nothing had happened yet. Of course in my current position I couldn't really see anything.

I shrieked as something solid jumped on me. I couldn't help it. She had startled me. It wasn't often that she surprised attacked me. The last time it had happened, she ended up with a bloody nose. I was in such a good mood that I did nothing but try and get away from her. She had an unfair advantage being on top of me, and knowing exactly where all my ticklish spots were.

I was getting nowhere. All I had managed to do was turn myself over. Now Rachel was straddling me, tickling my sides like there was no tomorrow. I tried to tickle her back, but she was too strong for me. She had always been too strong for me. The only way I knew to get her to stop was to stop struggling, but that's against my nature.

About the time that I can barely breathe from laughing so much, I give up. Thankfully she stops soon after, and collapses on top of me. Spent, from laughing as much as I had I wrap her in a hug. It was nice to have such a good time right after an attack.

Just as I'm beginning to relax, I hear someone clapping. Both Rachel and I looked over towards the door. I can't help but start laughing again. The Latina is leaning up against the door with an obvious look of arousal on her face. In the middle of my laughing fit I began to cough. Oh god, we had to clear something up before she continued down her train of thought.

"Songbird, can you, uh, please get up." Rachel got off the bed, glaring at the girl. While she put on her pants I decided now would be a good time to set her straight.

"I know what this looks like from your side, but honestly it's nothing like that." She looked skeptical, but really who could blame her.

"Let me try this again," I walked towards her with my hand extended, "Hi. My name is Jordan Berry, Rachel's sister." It was just a flash, but the confusion was there. Right before it was replaced by her mask of indifference.

"We were both adopted. Not that it's any of your business Santana. Let's take this downstairs out of my bedroom. The last thing I want is for you to contaminate my bedroom." Rachel snapped at her. I just grinned and winked at Santana. We may be related, but objectively I know that a snarky Rachel is appealing.

All three of us walk back down towards the living room; thankfully everyone is finally fully clothed. I make a short pit stop by the kitchen to grab some water. When I make it to the living room they are sitting on opposite sides glaring at each other.

I start laughing, "You know Santana, when you first cam I thought it was a bad thing, but now I've changed my mind. You've caused a lot of laughter in this house, and that is never a bad thing." I paused adding just a bit of flair that I knew Rachel would appreciate, "I think that I'm just going to leave you two alone to talk." I grab my bottle of water and head out of the room. I pretend to make my way up the stairs, but instead sit on the bottom few. Now I had an uninterrupted view of the show.

They sat there just staring at each other. Rachel had her arms crossed, and was sitting straight up on the edge of her seat. Santana on the other hand was slumped back in her seat. The two girls were so different looking, but from what I've heard of Santana so much alike. My only regret is that I didn't grab any popcorn for the show.

After about five minutes I have to repress a sigh. Santana is apparently as hard headed as Rachel. Neither one has said a word or moved a muscle in those five minutes. This was definitely not as exciting as I had thought it would be. Santana must have thought so, too.

The Latina shifted in her seat and sighed. She gave Rachel a pointed look that clearly stated what are you waiting for. I couldn't see her face, but I knew she was smirking. It was just a natural Rachel thing to do. Rachel was great at waiting. She had developed the skill when we were younger. Supposedly for those on stage death scenes she may have, but I believe she just liked the challenge of out waiting our parents. Hopefully Santana would break sooner, rather than later.

**Santana's POV**

I was not going to say a word. If Rachel wanted to play games with me then fine, I would fucking win. There was no way Treasure Trail would win. Nope, no way. I would win this battle of wills. Yup… Any minute now she's going to crack. I just have to wait. Just a little longer.

After five minutes, I'm getting antsy. I shift in my seat and sigh, this is getting old. I give her my best glare telling her to go ahead and talk. And you know what, she smirked at me. She fucking smirked at me. Shit's about to go down.

Rachel's POV

I settled into my comfy position, and started to wait. I emptied my mind and just let time pass by me. This is a technique that I had developed a long time ago. It was perfect for getting my way, and much more effect than holding my breath. I learned that mistake when I was six.

Just a measly five minutes passed when Santana shifted in her seat. When she sighed, I couldn't help the smirk that crossed my face. I know that I shouldn't have. But I couldn't help it. Most people at least lasted ten minutes before breaking.

**Jordan's POV**

I settle back into my seat trying to hold back a yawn. Rachel's silent treatment had been used on me many times. It got old after a while. Most people who had the pleasure of being treated to it many times, eventually just gave her what she wanted.

Oh god! This wasn't good. What in the world provoked her? I'm just sitting here rambling on in my mind, just after Santana pounced on Rachel. I have no idea what is going on anymore. One moment it's the silent treatment, and the next they're rolling around on the floor wrestling. Maybe leaving these two alone wasn't the best idea, but it sure was the most entertaining

Santana started out with the upper hand, and it was glorious. Rachel was deflecting all of the blows, but the girl was all over the place. It was clear that Santana had no idea what she was doing. It looked like she was just swinging and hoping that something landed. This was actually quite amusing to watch. Now more than ever I wish I had brought popcorn.

Santana seemed to get more desperate to land a shot. She started swinging faster trying to get by Rachel's defense. I moved off the steps to get a better view just as Rachel grew tired with Santana's game. Rach easily flipped the slightly larger girl. It was highly amusing to watch. The look on Santana's face when she hit the floor was priceless. Obviously she never expected Rachel to get the upper hand.

Rachel just raised her eyebrow at Santana, and gave her another smirk. I'd only known Santana for less than half an hour, but I already knew that this wasn't a good idea. If I knew it was a bad idea, so did Rach. That girl is as good as I am at reading people. I hope she knows what she's doing, playing with fire like that.

It takes me a minute to see it, but I spot the flaw in her technique a good twenty seconds before Santana does. Rachel is too far down, she should have scooted up farther on Santana's body, unless of course she wanted to be re-pinned to the floor. I don't think I can rule out that possibility. Rachel had been talking about the Latina since the first day of school.

Santana lets out a pretty impressive growl before flipping Rachel. Now she's on top, and in a better position. From where I'm standing it would take Rachel several minutes to work her way out of it. The girl was pretty muscled, though that is probably from the cheerleading.

I silently move around a little, so I can see their faces better. For some reason Santana isn't swinging at Rachel anymore, and Rachel isn't trying to get loose, either. In fact they're both just kind of lying there panting a little from the fight. I wonder what they're thinking…. "Oh god no. I don't need to see that."

I didn't even realize that I had spoken aloud until they jumped apart. The last thing I expected them to do was kiss. They both sat back in their previous positions while I counted to ten. Apparently they both need a chaperone.

"Alright ladies this is going way to fast. We need to slow this down and talk before clothes start coming off. Perhaps we need a calm way to discuss this. Santana, why don't you go first?"

Santana huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I just came over to warn Berry off of Quinn's man, seems we all might have the wrong idea."

"You don't know anything Santana. After all it was you who kissed me, not the other way around."

"That's what they all say."

I step in before they can get into another fight, "Santana? Why exactly are you here to warn Rachel? Why didn't Quinn come herself? Actually, does she even know you're here doing this?"

Santana looks at me like I've lost my mind. "Are you for real? Where do you get off asking me questions? My problems are with Berry, and Berry only so you need to step down."

"You don't get to talk to her like that. You came into my house Santana. That means you play by my rules." Rae angrily said, shoving the bigger girl.

"Listen Treasure Trail, I don't play by anyone's rules, least of all yours. That's not how we do it here. In this town I'm the Head Bitch. Quinn may be the Head Cheerio, but I'm the one everyone is afraid of. That means you do as I wants or I ends you."

I can't even watch. Rachel's laughing and Santana is in for a surprise.

"No I don't think you know how this works. You see, this is my house, my rules. Inside these walls I am in charge, and you are nothing but a guest. Now, if you can talk nicely maybe we can discuss this. If you want to continue the way you're going you can leave. It's your choice Santana."

"Whatevs. I'll try it your way, until I get bored. After that I'm gone. Now I want to know why you're going after Frankenteen when you're kissing girls, and why you dress like a cross between an old lady and a toddler when you own normal clothes."

Internally I sigh. This is not how this was supposed to go. No one was supposed to find out, but here was this girl on the brink of breaking things wide open. Now the question was, let her in or keep her out? I looked over to Rachel and raised my brow at her. She nodded and I turned to Santana, "If you'll excuse us for a minute we'll go get some snacks. I baked some cookies this morning, would you like a few?" At her nod Rachel and I both rose and walked into the kitchen. It was the perfect place to have this discussion. Far enough away that Santana couldn't hear, but close enough that we could see if she moved.

I grabbed the cookies and put them on a plate while Rachel talked, "What do you think Star? Should we let her in? We've worked on this act for three months now. I don't want to see it end. It makes going to school bearable. Makes living here bearable."

"I'm not sure Songbird. I mean you have talked about this girl since school started. It was this girl you were talking about right?" When she nods her head I continue, "You may not want to admit it, but I think you might be a little lonely at school. Maybe we can let her in to the play. That way we don't have to stop the play, we can just add to it just like with Tina. Maybe surrounding yourself with more people who know isn't a bad thing," I pause, giving her time to think about my words.

"Let's see what she has to say. I think she may like the idea of the play. We can pitch it as manipulation. I'm sure she'd just love that."

I laughed; there was nothing else I could do. Everything I had seen about the girl pointed towards the obvious conclusion. I picked up the cookies and headed back to the living room. While Santana hadn't left the living room this time, she was standing up looking at the pictures.

"I still don't get it. Who are these men in the pictures?"

"Santana, we already told you we both were adopted. It only stands to reason that those are our fathers."

"You guys have two dads?"

Rachel just shook her head. Santana was being rather dense. "Yes, we have two fathers. I'm going to assume you have no problem with it, based on the fact that you kissed me."

"Yeah, well don't get used to it. I must've hit my head or something."

I snort. I don't mean to, but what she's saying is so patently obvious that it's ridiculous, "Please. You've wanted to jump Rach since you saw her upstairs. Don't even bother to deny it. We all know it's true."

"Whatever. Doesn't have to mean anything. And no, I don't have a problem with you haven two dads. Now can we move on to the questions I asked you before you guys left the room?"

"What we tell you depends on your answer to my question. The way things are going at school, are the way I want things to go. If I tell you anything will you be able to keep it a secret? Any potential leak of that secret would of course be reported back here to both of us. We'd allow you into our inner circle, and possibly give you things to do, but if you can't keep a secret I'm afraid we'd have to kill you."

Rachel's delivery was spot on. I could literally see the fear on Santana's face. She couldn't tell if Rachel was joking or not. I had to do something to ease her mind so I gave her a wink.

She sank back down into the same seat as before and grabbed a cookie, "I can keep a secret. I don't know if what you're doing is something I'd want in, but I do want to know."

Rachel pulled out a piece of paper from the table by the door and wrote something on it. She then gave it to Santana along with the pen. "This is a big thing, us letting you into our world, so I require a sworn statement. Just sign the paper. That way if you mess up I have something to hold over your head. You won't be able to claim that you were forced into this. There is no way that I'm going to leave my sister or myself open to any harm from you."

I just rolled my eyes. Rachel was always over the top about everything. That's why this act was perfect for her. Normally she was a soft, sneaky over the top. We just tweaked her so she would be a loud, obnoxious over the top character.

"Whatev's. I'll sign the stupid thing. Will you just get on with the answers? I gots better things to do than be here."

"That won't be the tune you'll be singing in a moment, but first you must answer a few of my questions."

"Oh hell no Berry, I have waited here to get this info. Hell I just signed some stupid paper. I think you owe me answers before I ever tell you a thing."

"Be that as it may, Santana, I need to know why you're here so that I can better explain things. I understand that it's about Quinn, but I don't know if she knows you're here. How much I reveal to you will depend on why you're here."

"You so owe me after this. I'm here because of your boyfriend stealing ass. Because of the way you've been going after Finn, Quinn has made me join your little band of losers. I want you to quit trying to go after Finn so that I don't get any germs being around Homo Explosion so much."

I try and stifle my giggles, Santana is funny, "Do you really call them Homo Explosion? Because I can truthfully tell you that two of the five are gay, and at least one of the other three is bi."

Santana looked interested in this, "Really?"

I nodded, "Yes, and if you really want the truth you must resign yourself to staying in the club. It will be vital for a cover. Everything that Rachel does at school is carefully thought out with a single goal in mind. Are you willing to stay in the club?" When she nods I explain the play while Rachel looks on. I sum it all up for her when I'm finished, "Basically Rachel character is very annoying, and in your face. She is also supposed to cause drama. The character that we created lives on drama. If you agree to help us you will help create more drama than WMHS has ever seen. Are you in?"

"Alright, I'll help you both create mayhem and disaster on one condition. Rachel, you have to stop chasing Finn. I'll keep Q and B in the glee club, but no more chasing Finn."

Rachel thought it over for a few seconds before nodding, "I can agree to that. Would you like to help us plan our next big thing?"

"Help? I have the perfect idea, all you have to do is play along."

**Santana's POV**

Berry wasn't that bad after all. Her plan was pure devious genius. I had to get all up in it, and I could even work that into what Sue wanted. Now I just had to figure out if I was going to tell them that Sue wanted the club gone. Would they force me out if I told them? I decided to take a chance; they were going to figure it out anyway.

"Guys before I tell you my idea I have to confess something. Coach Sylvester expects Britt, Quinn and I to destroy the glee club from the inside." They sat there just looking at each other. These two were kinda creepy when they did that. Finally Rachel nodded.

"I understand that Sue wants glee club to fail, but I won't let that happen, though we may orchestrate it so that the club almost fails. That way we can toy with the club and Sue at the same time. Yes, "She nodded again, "that's what we will do. It will add depth to our play."

The grin on her face was not comforting at all, but I couldn't help myself responding to it. Rachel Berry is definitely not what I thought she was. This is going to be a great year. First I get to cause mayhem, and second I don't have to act any differently. In fact Rachel forbade it. She said that the only way the play would work is if no one knew it was going on. I didn't much care about the stupid play; I just wanted to cause trouble.

"Okay here's my idea, we need glee club to start unraveling. The best way to do that is to start undermining Schue. If we get him to start doubting his ability to coach then we'll not only be causing problems, but it will make Sue happy. Then at the last moment we get Schue back, causing Sue some drama. If we do this right we can cause everyone quite a few headaches without doing lasting damage."

**Rachel's POV**

I relax back in my seat. I may have had some reservations about letting Santana in, but I can already see how this will benefit us. She can see things from a different view. I'm glad that she told me about Coach Sylvester. I would hate to have to teach her a lesson about telling us the truth. Though maybe I'll tell her what I was going to do so she can use it on someone else.

I start thinking about what she has said. I can feel Jordan curling up on the couch next to me. I'd like to hear her opinion on the matter before I start trying to make up my mind so I give her a little poke. She looks up at me.

"I think Santana has a good idea. You guys don't have enough people for competition, but you've been practicing as if you would compete. Maybe do something with that. As long as both of you are sure you can pull this off then I say do it. Let it be a test to see if you can manipulate Mr. Schuester. It may come in handy later on."

I grab a cookie off the plate to give myself some time to think. It does sound like a good idea, and a true test of skill. If this can be pulled off correctly we will not only mess with Mr. Schuester and Coach Sylvester, but we will bring the club to the brink of ruin and snatch it back again.

"Okay Santana, tell me what you've got."


	3. Episode 3

**Two weeks later (Rachel's POV)**

It was the middle of glee club and Schue was making us do these really stupid moves. The group looked ridiculous trying to do it. I covertly looked at Santana and nodded my head. It was time for phase one of our next play.

"Uh, c-could we stop, please?"

"You don't have to ask every time for permission to go to the bathroom, Rachel. You can just go."

Could this man be anymore condescending? It had been near two months that we had worked on nothing. How could someone who claimed to care be so oblivious? I really hope what I'm about to do will wake him up. He seriously needs to get his shit together.

"It's not my bladder. It's the choreography." I told him sharply?

Schue sighed, "Okay, what's wrong with the choreography?"

There is a loaded question. What isn't wrong with the choreography? It makes everyone look stupid. I realize that not everyone has taken dance lessons since they could walk, but they didn't even teach this stuff to toddlers. Toddlers were trusted to learn better routines. This plan was going to work better than I expected. Schue's lack of decent ideas would allow the club to be open to my idea. It's going to be like taking candy from a baby.

"We can't compete with Vocal Adrenaline with these steps. You're a great vocal coach, Mr. Schue, but… you're not a… trained choreographer. That's what we need to be the best. We need Dakota Stanley."

I can see Quinn looking at me from across the room with a smug look on her face. Oh, if only she knew. Santana had of course determined that Quinn must be brought in somehow to make this work. We had to let Quinn think that this was her idea, or it would mess up the Sue part of the plan. Thankfully Quinn was very easy to manipulate. Just the thought of ruining the club was enough to get her to run with the subtle hints Santana had dropped for her. Everything was working perfectly.

"Did you ever perform, Mr. Schuester?"

What? I really need to stop these internal monologues. I have no idea what prompted Quinn's question, but it does fit nicely into where the play is going.

"After high school. Did you even try?"

Wow, Quinn has a mean streak. Now I'm doubly glad that Santana said that we had to wait for Quinn to present the idea to me. She played her part beautifully without ever learning her lines.

Practice continued after that moment, but you could already tell that Mr. Schuester was feeling down. Where we had hit had hurt. Now all we had to do was wait for the right time to move the act forward. It was going to be great.

**Friday (Jordan's POV)**

"I must say, Santana you're underhandedness is quite refreshing to watch," Rachel said snuggling into the Latina.

Santana smirked, "You're just happy cause I gots us some time together."

"True, now we can spend some time together without anyone questioning it."

I shake my head at the two. They had both just came back from school. Santana had taken to stopping by after school since she had joined our troupe. She said it was for my cookies, but I knew that she just wanted to spend time with the real Rachel. I pretended to ignore it, but I could see the glances they gave each other.

"What has Santana done this time?" "She just got us partnered for a project in English. Now if anyone notices she's over here we can use that as an excuse, though we're still going to be careful. The last thing we want to do is blow the play so early in the game."

"Very true, you can never be too careful. Will you both help me move the food to the table? Then we can get down to business."

They both grabbed a couple plates; I was using them to try out some new recipes. We had decided that all of us were going to hang out today before Rachel and I went to visit friends back in Columbus. The doorbell rang just as the girls finished putting the dishes on the table.

I went to open it because I knew who it was supposed to be. "Hi Tina, I'm so glad you could make it."

"I'm glad you invited me," Tina said as she walked in.

"Alright," I said after sitting in awkward silence, "I realize that we don't know each other very well so let's play a game?

"What kind of game?" Tina asked quietly from her side of the table.

I shrugged, "It's not really a game. We all tell our most embarrassing moment, and the one with worst one and gets crowned the winner."

"And just what does the winner get?" Santana asked.

"Ummmmmm, how about the winner gets to pick the next party theme?" I threw out.

Rachel nodded stepping in to help me, "Yeah, each of our parties are themed. We've had Broadway, horror, silent, and Jurassic Park themed parties along with lots of others. We like to do themes so that it never gets dull. Once a theme is chosen Dad and Daddy go all out making it happen, though it doesn't have to be that extreme. We've had several parties with the theme movie night."

"Okay," Santana said as both she and Tina nodded.

I decide to get the ball going, "This is my most embarrassing moment… Two years ago Dad and Daddy let Rach and I go to the Pride Parade by ourselves for the first time. I was super excited, and really nervous. It's a little daunting to go to something that big without your parents. I mean the only reason they agreed was because we knew all of the streets. Anyway we get there and the sheer amount of people pressing in on me starts to freak me out, and before Ray can pull me to the side I barfed on the hottest girl I had ever seen."

"Wow" Tina said, "But I think mine is better. Over the summer I went away to a summer program and won a couple of awards. When I came home my parents told me they wanted to take me out to celebrate. Well they chose a night they had to work, and they told me to drive myself. They were going to meet me at the restaurant. When I got there the hostess led me to a private room where Mike Chang was. Turns out my parents set me up on a blind date. I was mortified because I wore my usual celebration outfit which let's just say I've had it since I was ten."

"Mike as in the football player Mike?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, our parents know each other and they decided that we would make a good couple. Now I always try and dress nice because I never know when Mike is going to show up. He seems to always pop up at the oddest times." Tina explained.

"Well, speaking of popping up at the oddest times that brings me to my most embarrassing story. Last year at cheer camp Britt and I were more into doing each other than doing anything else. It was the middle of the day during rest period, and we decided to go to the boat house to gets us some sexy times going. We're really into it and were both naked and shit when the door opens. In walks Quinn Fucking Fabray cool as ever. She told us not to stop because of her and then started getting some kayaking shit down off the walls. That's not the embarrassing part though, it's not like that's the first time she walked in on us. As she was leaving she looks back and I swear to God she had a smirk on her face, she tells us that we should keep it down because the leaders are getting together a group to come free the wild animal that had gotten stuck in there."

"Oh you think that's bad? Well my mom walked in on me and my ex-girlfriend and proceeded to lecture us for thirty minutes about respecting ourselves and each other and all this other crap when we were both naked huddling under the covers. To make it worse my girlfriend at the time wouldn't stop teasing me for the entire half hour. I still swear my mom knew what was going on, but I've never felt comfortable asking her." Rachel told everyone with a triumphant look on her face.

The other two thought it over, but I knew that Rachel had won. She did seem to have the worst luck about being caught naked on her bed.

"Okay, okay I guess you win. So what is the theme for the party going to be, and when the hell are we going to have a party?" Santana said with a pout.

Rae shrugged and shoved some food in her mouth, "I don't know. I'll figure it out later."

**Later That Night (Santana's POV)**

I was gloating. I didn't care how that made me look. We were deciding on a movie to watch and I had won. One 28 Days Later was the entertainment of the night. Jordan had seemed fine with it, but Rachel had fought hard. I didn't really care what we watched; I just wanted to beat Rachel. Petty, I know, but I do what I gots to.

About twenty minutes into the movie I realized why Rachel fought so hard to watch a different movie. She kept jumping every time a zombie appeared on the screen. It was kinda funny, even Jordan was making giggling noises. After on particularly gruesome scene I took pity on her, and wrapped my arm around her. It felt really nice to have Rachel in my arms. She apparently liked the position too because she immediately curled into me. It just made the victory that much sweeter.

**Three Weeks Later (Rachel's POV)**

The hardest part about any scheme was the waiting. It had been over a month now, and everything was just now coming together. Mr. Schue has been missing practices since the earlier incident, and when he has been to practice he'd been distracted. The whole team was starting to feel the pressure. No one had wanted to hire Stanley because they felt that it was wrong, but now they were desperate to do anything. Just the way I wanted them.

I walked towards Mr. Schue's Spanish class with a plate of cookies. I knew that he would just brush them off, but I needed something to show the club that I had tried. I wanted everyone to thin that I was working towards making the club better, instead of trying to bring it down. Tina was doing a good job of keeping me informed on everyone's opinion, and I knew that they were getting fed up with Schue.

After the brush off I walked towards the choir room. Everyone was waiting there for me. They all wanted to know how it had gone. Finn tried to play the hero and stuck up for Mr. Schuester, but God bless Quinn. She played her part beautifully getting the club to agree to hire Dakota. I'm not sure if the act would have played out had it not been for her. Quinn was working beautifully into my scheme, and I had kept my word and left Finn alone, even if he wasn't making it easy. That boy is so dumb. Nothing I do seems to get through his thick skull. The more I seemed to ignore him the more he came after me, but I had promised Santana that I would stop perusing him.

"Hey, wait up."

There he goes again. Sometimes it feels like he's stalking me. I just need to keep acting like nothing is wrong, and pray he gets the hint.

"Y-you can't do this to Mr. Schuester."

Poor boy, he has no idea just what I can do or have done.

"What? Make him a hero? Once we hire Dakota and win nationals, he'll thank me for it. You heard Santana. It's all about winning"

"Since when?"

Eh? I really didn't have a good answer to that, well not one that I could tell to Finn. Let's see if I can distract him. He is easily led, it shouldn't be too hard.

"Look, you have your popular clique and your football and your cliché of a blonde girlfriend. Glee is my one shot. If this doesn't work out, then my whole high school life will be nothing but an embarrassment."

"Wh-what's a "cliché " Is that a bad thing? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Is this one of those chick things where you're pissed about one thing, but you're just pretending like you're pissed about something else 'cause…"

Bingo, he took the bait. Now I just have to keep him distracted before I slip in my main point. I just love messing with people's minds. It makes me feel all giddy. I'll have to remember this moment so I can tell Santana. She'll love that I confused Finn so much.

"I don't know what you're talking about. "

"Well, for a while there, you were kind of all over me, and now you just yell at me all the time. Makes me think you're still upset about what happened in the auditorium."

"I'm not. I've moved on and I'm focusing on my career now."

If he only knew that I had moved my attention elsewhere. It hadn't happened yet, but I was determined to make Santana my girlfriend. I just had to make her see that I was good for something permanent, not just a quick roll in the hay. I didn't do a no strings attached relationship. It's all or nothing, and I'm slowly convincing Santana of that. "D-do you wanna talk about it?" "No. And neither do you. It's kind of ironic how you're Mr. Popular and I'm just this nobody that everybody makes fun of, but I have enough confidence to say out loud that what happened between us in the auditorium was real. You have feelings for me and you just don't have the guts to admit it."

Oh shit. My mouth is moving way to fast, I didn't even have time to think about what I said. I am not supposed to be leading Finn on. Maybe I'll just leave the last bit out of my retelling. I really need to work on some better control. I need to salvage this conversation before he gets more of the wrong idea.

"We're hiring Dakota Stanley"

"Even if it means me quitting?"

"Yes."

Perfect, now Finn is distracted from what I said and I get to cause more mayhem. This is the perfect plan. Everyone is getting really upset about this. Though I think it's about time to wrap this act up. It's time to go find Dakota and hire him. I was getting tired of not doing anything productive. Regionals was coming up and we don't even have a set list prepared.

We had contacted Dakota Stanley and it went perfectly. He was completely rude and overpriced. I still can't believe that everyone was still on board with this. We had 8,000 dollars to raise, and I had the perfect idea, a car wash. But first I had to try and help Mercedes. The girl was walking the road to heart ache and I didn't want to see her reach the end.

"We need to have a gayvention. That's a gay intervention." I told Mercedes as Tina and I stopped at her locker.

"It's K-Kurt. He's lady fabulous." Tina chimed in, trying to help me prevent a disaster.

"It's obvious you like him. We just don't want you to get hurt by feelings he can't… reciprocate." I had to state the obvious, and it killed me. I mean how could you not tell that the boy was gay.

"Look, just because he wears nice clothes doesn't mean he's on the down low." Mercedes was so far into denial I almost couldn't see her.

"He wore a corset to second period today." And is hair, did you ever pay attention to his hair. He's so gay it's ridiculous I yelled at her in my mind. It was so hard not to go overboard during this conversation. She was being as dense as Finn, and that's hard to do.

"You can do better, Mercedes." Thank god for Tina, she can give her platitudes that I can't. I really don't care for the girl that much.

"Really? Well, what if I can't? You know, there's not a lot of guys around here knocking down my door for a date. Or yours, for that matter."

If only she knew.

"Nobody notices us. Hello? We're in glee club. And I'm tired of being lonely. Aren't you? But Kurt, Kurt is sweet to me, and he likes who I am and I like how I feel when I'm with him. And he's in our group. He understands what I'm going through. Now maybe that's not enough for you guys, but it's enough for me."

I just give up, there is no talking sense into her. I just hope that this is all resolved before Dakota gets here. We just have to go wash a lot of cars. Did I mention that Santana is going to be in a bikini top? Oh yeah, car wash, best idea ever. I left Tina and Mercedes at the locker. I couldn't stay by such idiocy anymore. Soon she would see what we were saying, and I hope she didn't do anything she would regret.

Finally the day had come, the day my play would come to its climax. In one fell swoop I would destroy the glee club, and then build it back up again. Santana really should be commended. This was the perfect plan.

All the players were in place. Dakota had us standing in a line, as he walked in front of us holding several folders. He passed out the folders skipping Artie along the way. When I opened mine, I nearly burst out laughing, it was a diet plan. This wouldn't sit very well with Mercedes.

"Okay. Please examine your personalized menus. This is what you're going to be eating for the next six months." Dakota said with a sneer. You could just tell he didn't like anyone.

"Um, mine just says 'coffee.'" Oh that was rich. This man is insane. No one can survive six months on coffee. It's like he received a copy of the script, he's playing his part so well.

I finally look at mine. It's a confusing mess of mostly vegetables and something weird, "What's 'smelt'?"

"A pungent, low carb freshwater fish." This guy was too much. We paid him 8,000 dollars and he didn't bother to read the info he requested. I liked him. I don't think Santana could have come up with a better player.

While I was musing Dakota started talking again. "Okay let's start with today's business. Artie, you're cut. You're not trying hard enough."

"At what?"

"At walking. Can't be wheeling you around during every number. Throws the whole dynamic, and it's depressing."

"So you're kicking him out?" Of course Mercedes would come to Artie's aid. She already wasn't happy with Dakota because of the diet plan.

Apparently Dakota wasn't happy with Mercedes because all he had to say was, "Mm-hmm. Also you. You's gotta go, F.A" This is so hilarious. I can see Santana standing next to me trying to keep a straight face. I can't even look at her, or I would burst out laughing too.

And as if on cue Kurt chimed in, "You can't kick people out of glee club because you don't like the way they look." I love it when people play their part so well. I almost wish I could share how predictable they were with them.

Dakota is my favorite though. The stuff that comes out of his mouth is hilarious and derogatory at the same time. What he said to Kurt was priceless, "Uh, why don't you shut your face gash and stay away from aerosol cans because you could burst into flames at any second."

After he finished berating Kurt he moved on to the Cheerios. Not much you could say bad there. And he didn't even try, "You three. You're great. You're perfect. Seriously don't change a thing." If he wasn't so obviously gay I'd think he was praising them a little to much, but I guess compared to the rest of the team he had a point.

'Uh, you… uh nose job." How predictable, now he was just getting boring. I sure hope this picks up soon. I'm waiting for my cue to save the day.

"Now just hold on a second.." Hmm, I never expected Finn to be the one to stand up to Dakota. Mercedes was my guess; she's got a lot more spunk. I can't believe Finn even grasped what's going on so soon.

"What? What was that Frankenteen? Why don't you, uh, wipe that dopey look off your face and get some lotion for those knuckles you've been draggin' on the ground?" Wow, that was good. I do have to give Dakota that.

"What's wrong with you?" Finn demanded to know.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me is that you're freakishly tall! I feel like a woodland creature!" Dakota is really tiny. I wonder how he ever found a dance partner.

"Am I hurting your feelings? Did I say something wrong? Because I thought you wanted somebody who respected you enough to tell the truth. But maybe you don't have the confidence to hear it. Hmm? Maybe you need somebody who's going to lie to you and tell you things like, 'You've got what it takes.' But you know what? As far as I can see, you don't. So, why don't you just take a little second, take a breather and ask yourself, 'Do I wanna be a winner or not.'"

"Screw this. I quit." Bravo Finn, bravo. You've brought on the last scene of the play.

"Me t-t-too." There goes Tina too, just a few more and then I can jump in. This is going to be grand. One of my best performances.

"Let's roll Artie." Okay so that's Mercedes, Artie, Tina and Finn. Almost half the glee club is about to storm out of the room. I can feel Santana tense beside me. She's waiting for me to stop them. I'm just waiting until they're almost out of the door. It adds to the dramatic effect.

"No. Great. Great! Separate the wheat from the chaff. That's perfect!" Poor Dakota, he'll never know what hit him.

Now it is time for my genius, "Wait," I call out to them, "Barbra Streisand," I can see the confused looks, and nearly smirk, but explain anyway, "When Barbra was a young ingénue, everyone told her in order to be a star, she's have to get a nose job. Thankfully, she refused."

"Where's this going, Yentl?"

To your doom, muhaha…, I definitely need to watch less superhero movies. They're cutting into my everyday thoughts. Anyway back to my genius, "Where it's going is that, we don't need you. Let's face it. We're never gonna be as good of dancers as Vocal Adrenaline. We're gonna win because we're different. And that's what makes us special."

It's a tense pause before Mercedes gets what I'm saying, "They told J-Lo her booty was too big."

"Curtis Mayfield was more successful after he became paralyzed." Maybe I'll ask Artie later who that is. Naw I'll just goggle it. I can't look like a know it all if I have to ask questions.

"Jim Abbott." Sigh, I wish Finn didn't have something to add.

Not all of us minded, Kurt seemed to like it, "I have no idea who that is." That boy's crush is so obvious. Too bad Finn is 100% straight. "He was a one-armed pitcher for the Yankees. Pitched a no hitter." Blah, blah, blah can we move on yet? It's time to end this.

Poor Dakota tried to regain control of the situation, "Okay, so.. Um, misfits and spaz-heads and cripples can make it too. That's great. What's your point?"

"Our point is that… you're fired, and I'm taller than you." I just had to add that last bit in. This whole time he'd been making fun of us, and the group would eat it up. My plan had worked out perfectly. Glee club had been ruined, but now it was back stronger than before. It would only take a group effort to convince Schue we'd been wrong. He'd eat up all the attention, now that his boy band had failed. Everything went better than expected.

**Later that same day (Santana's POV)**

This was my second solo mission for the play. The first was when I convinced Quinn that hiring Dakota Stanley would ruin the glee club, and that it was her idea. This is in no way as hard as that. All I have to do is let Quinn report our failure, and watch the melt down. Upsetting Sue was the secondary objective of the whole thing after all.

Sue didn't disappoint with her reaction, "Let me get this straight. The glee club got rid of Dakota Stanley, Mr. Schuester's back, and they're busy at work on a new number, more confident than ever. This is what we call a total disaster, ladies. I'm going to ask you to smell your armpits. "

I swear the women should be locked into a mental hospital, but Quinn and I both smell our arm pits before she continues.

"That's the smell of failure, and it's stinking up my office. I'm revoking your tanning privileges for the rest of the semester."

Dios mio! It's too much. I have to get out of the room and fast. Can she really think that a lack of tanning privileges would hurt me? I mean hello, I'm naturally dark. I don't even use the tanning beds in the first place. I make it seem like I'm crying so that I can run out, I hope I didn't overdo it, but I don't think anyone will notice. I have to go tell Rach about this.

Wow, was my first thought really to go see Rachel? And did I just call her Rach in my head? I guess if you ignore everything she does at school, which is just an act anyway, then she's kinda cool. I mean she's funny, and as devious as I am. She did agree to a plan that practically crushed the spirits of several people with very little hesitation. In fact if it wasn't for the play I'm sure she'd give me a run for my head bitch title.

I think I really like her. In more than just a friend way. I'm not straddling the rainbow or anything; I just likes what I likes. Ain't nothing wrong with that. What's the point of being the head bitch if I can't do what I want? Maybe I'll ask Rachel out on a date. Yeah, a date sounds good.

Oh god, I've never planned a date before. How in the hell am I going to pull this off. It's not like I can go to Britt or Quinn. They don't know about the play. Well damn it. I finally find someone who compliments me on so many different levels and I can't even figure out what to do on a date with her. Maybe I'll ask Jordan. Yeah, Jordan will know exactly what Rachel would like to do on a date. Now I just need to go tell Rachel about Sue's reaction. I do love hearing her laugh.

I shut my car off and sat there staring at the Berry house. This was something I had never thought I'd do. This wasn't badass at all; I just hope she doesn't laugh at me.

I hopped out of my car and walked up to the door. I took a deep breath to settle myself before I walked in. I had been coming over so much; I was told that I wasn't a guest anymore. I had an open invitation to come over whenever I wanted, and that meant that I could just come in. I think it helped that the Berry men knew my father.

I shut the door and headed to the kitchen. No matter what the time of day Jordan was always in the kitchen. I don't know why she was getting a psychology degree; she should just become a professional chef. Her food is to die for, speaking of which I can smell the bread she's making. I sure hope there's some already done so I can have some.

"Hey, Santana. Rachel's not here yet. She's got ballet, then singing lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Is everything okay? I thought you memorized her schedule a couple weeks ago?"

"I actually came to see you. I need to talk to you about something that I don't want Rachel to overhear. Now was the best time."

"Okay, Santana. You know I'm always here for you to talk with, so shoot."

"I, uh. Well you see I, uh.." Why was this so hard? I could cut someone to pieces in minutes but I couldn't ask Jordan how to woo the girl I liked. Jordan to my relief didn't even laugh. Had the roles been reversed, or if I had went to anyone else laughter would have been involved.

She just poured my some lemonade and gave me a roll that was fresh from the oven. I smiled at her and decided that maybe it was like a band-aid, if I got it over fast it would hurt less.

"IwannaaskRachelout."

Dios mio, that was hard. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. My palms were sweaty and my head was light. I don't know if I can do this. I mean, I'm just asking Jordan what Rachel would like on a date. I haven't even asked Rachel out yet. I'm not sure if I can. I would probably have a panic attack before I got the words out. I don't know when it happened, but I really like her. I can't even imagine the hurt I'd feel if she said no.

"Santana, Santana you have to breathe. Just take a breath, you can do this."

Jordan's words finally break me out of my panic. I look up and see her standing next to me. She's got my wrist in her hand. When did she do that?

"Why are you holding my hand?"

Now she really did laugh, "I'm just checking your pulse. If your heart rate got to much higher I was going to call my Daddy. It isn't good for your body to panic about. Besides you have nothing to worry about. Rachel likes you too."

"She does?"

I hate how I sound weak, but I can't help it. This girl has worked her way into my heart. We've only known each other for a couple months, but I know that I want to get to know her better. She makes me laugh, and she doesn't mind the way I act. In fact she's the one who told me that I shouldn't change, that I was art in motion. Well damn, I guess I should have known. I bang my head on the counter, it was there all along.

"She's liked me from the beginning hasn't she?"

"Yup, she used to come home talking about you, way before you barged your way into the group. She hoped that one day you would feel the same, but even if you never did she still wanted to be your friend."

"You'll help me then, right? I do like her, and I want to take her out, but… I just don't know anything about this. I mean it's one thing to just go where the guy says we're going, but to actually have to plan the date. Besides Rachel is... Well she's special, and I want this date to be special. I want our first date to blow every other date she's had out of the water. I want it to be perfect, but I have no idea what to do."

"Just breathe Santana. I won't tell you what to do, but I promise to point you in the right direction. Now let's talk about how you're going to ask her…"

* * *

><p>I was so nervous I was shaking. It had taken me all week to work up the nerve to do this, well and to plan it all out. I wanted my first date with Rachel to leave an impression that nothing could get rid of. I don't care how that made me sound. I could still be a badass and do romantic things. 'Sides who would call me on it? I would just end up beating them up, everyone knew it.<p>

I pulled up outside Rachel's and worked on the relaxation techniques Jordan had showed me. Rachel had no idea what was going on. She just thought we were going to hang out. Jordan was supposed to come, but she's going to conveniently fall sick. I was worried that it wouldn't work because Rachel was a master liar herself. Jordan assured me that she wouldn't spot the lie. It wasn't anything unusual for Jordan to back out of plans that caused them to leave the house.

Before I could even get out of the car Rachel came out of the door and hopped in, "Hey San, Star isn't coming. She says she doesn't feel well, but I think she's lying."

I can feel myself hyperventilating. I thought Jordan said Rachel wouldn't know. This is going to ruin everything.

"Yeah, I think she wants us to check the place out first. She's not big on going to places I never been to before. It's a safety thing.. Are you okay Santana? You're looking a little pale."

"Must be the tanning privileges I lost catching up to me." Oh thank good for my quick wit. Rachel laughs and I relax. She didn't suspect a thing, I was safe. Jordan had been right, she could play Rachel as well as Rachel played other people. It was kinda funny to watch, that is if this wasn't such a serious situation.

"So how long is it to the place?"

"Uh, it's not far. I think you'll love it. I've been going there for years. It's really cool."

We made more small talk as I drove us towards my special spot. Mostly we talked about where the play was going next. I wanted to get that out of the way so it didn't crop up on our date. I wanted this to be perfect and just about us.

* * *

><p>I pulled up to a wooded area on the outskirts of Lima. The place was empty just the way it usually was. Not many people knew about it because it was really out of the way, but the scenery was breath taking. Rachel got out of the car and looked around confused.<p>

"This place is really pretty San, do you come out here often?"

"Yeah. I come out here when I need some peace. There's never anyone here. It's like my own piece of heaven. I've only ever brought Britt here, and that's because of the ducks. They like to mate here. In the summer there's so many ducks here it's unreal."

She smiled at me and held out her hand, "Okay. Take me to your place."

I took her hand and started leading her through the woods. When we were almost there I made Rachel close her eyes. She was skeptical, but thankfully went along with my odd request. She probably suspected what was going to happen. I just hoped she liked it.

I left her on the edge of the clearing, with a good view of the lake. I had already laid out a large picnic blanket and a picnic basket filled with all of Rachel's favorite finger foods. Jordan of course was responsible for that because I can't cook to save my life. The place was also covered with flowers of all different kinds.

I walked over to the picnic blanket and picked up a single daisy, Rachel's favorite flower, before walking back to stand in front of her. I knelt down on the ground and grabbed her hand, her eyes sprang open almost immediately. If I wasn't afraid of her rejecting me I would have found it funny. She had this wide eye "I can't believe this is happening" look on her face. I could see her take in all of my work. It had taken me hours to make sure everything was perfect.

When her eyes finally settled on me I took a deep breath, "Rachel, over this last week I began to realize something. When something good happens to me I want you to be the first to know. When something bad happens, when something upsets me, or just makes me laugh I think of you. For weeks now you've taken up residence in my mind, and I've finally figured out why. Rachel Barbra Berry will you be my girlfriend?"

I swear the world stood still, my heart stopped beating and I couldn't breathe. It was pure agony waiting for her response. I felt so vulnerable putting myself out there like this. I never wanted to do this again.

Rachel opened then closed her mouth a few times, at any other moment it would have been funny. At this one is felt like a thousand blows to my heart. I just knew she was looking for a nice way to let me down. This was a stupid idea. Of course she wouldn't want me, I….

"Of course, Santana. I-I can't believe this. I didn't even realize you felt the same way."

I looked up at her dazed. She said yes. She said yes! I jumped up and pulled her into a hug spinning her around.

"This is just wonderful Santana. I can't believe you had this all planned out. When did you have the time? I thought you were extra busy with Cheerios this week."

"I was, but your sister helped me with most of it. Of course she wouldn't tell me anything outright, but once I figured out what I wanted to do she helped me put it together. I just wanted to give you a perfect date, and what better way to start a new relationship."

"Yes, yes it is the perfect way to start a relationship. Who knew that McKinley's top bitch had a soft side. You know Santana, the more I know you the more I like you."

"As long as you don't tell anyone, I don't mind showing you."

She let out a soft laugh moved closer to me. I pulled her into a one armed hug and led her over to the picnic blanket.

"Okay, so I cheated a little. I wanted it to be perfect so I had Jordan cook the food. I did not want our first date to end up in the hospital."

This made Rachel laugh again, and it made me happy.

Rachel and I talked while we ate the food in the picnic basket. It was nice and relaxing, I don't know why I was so worried. Rachel has always been so easy going out of school.

We finished the food and I sat the basket off to the side of the blanket. I laid down then pulled Rachel down with me. If she asked I'd tell her I just wanted to cloud watch, but truthfully I wanted to feel her against me. She is all I've been able to think about since my realization outside of Sue's office. I'm just so glad that she feels the same way as I do.

Rachel laid on her side and held herself up so she could look down at me. I smiled up at her as I reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear so it was out of her face, "You're so beautiful."

Her smile blocked out the sun. I had never seen her look as happy as she did that moment. I know it wasn't our first kiss, but I knew that this was the one I would count. I moved my hand to the back of her neck and leaned up to press my lips against hers. I was in heaven, with an angel by my side.

* * *

><p>My date went perfectly, and I totes got my mack on for a solid hour. Man, could that girl kiss. I was in such a happy mood when I went home that I never saw the car. I parked mine and ran inside to my room. I just wanted to get to my room and change before texting Rachel. I know it's too soon, but I wanted to make sure she knew I had a good time.<p>

To say I was shocked when I walked into my room was an understatement. Quinn Fabray never showed up to my house unannounced. She always called a couple hours in advance. I checked my phone and saw the missed calls and text messages. I had left it in the car on my date. I hadn't wanted anything to distract me. Now I had 27 calls and 42 text messages from the girl sitting on my bed.

"What's up Q? Sorry I didn't answer, I was busy."

"It's okay. You're mom let me in. She said I could wait here until you got back from where ever it is you went. I haven't been here too long. I-I actually have something I need to talk to you about, but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone."

I watched the tears roll down her cheeks with shock. Quinn was always reserved, and rarely showed true emotion. I had known her since I was five, and had never seen her cry before right now. I did what any friend would do; I sat next to her and awkwardly tried to comfort her.

"It's okay Q. You can tell me anything. I won't tell anyone without your permission. What else are friends for?"

I don't know what I did wrong, but it was bad. Quinn was now sobbing on my shoulder. I awkwardly tried to pat her back and comfort her. She just kept crying. I wish she would tell me what I did wrong. This is so far beyond weird I don't know what to call it.

"I-I'm pregnant."

Okay, this sobbing is playing tricks with my mind. I swear Quinn just told me she was pregnant. Ms. Celibacy Club president can't be president. You kinda have to have sex to get pregnant. There's no way.

"I'm sorry Quinn, but did you just say you're pregnant."

She nods, with her head still buried in my shoulder. I'm completely shocked.

"You do know you have to have sex to get pregnant, right?"

She laughed, it was a bit forced but it was helping to dry up the tears. I just needed to stop her crying. It's freaking me out big time. I have no idea what she expects me to do.

"Quinn, are you going to keep the baby, or go for an abortion?"

"I don't know S. I don't know what to do at all. If I keep the baby it'll ruin my life, but I don't think I can kill it. It's alive and growing inside me. It's done nothing wrong, how can I kill it, how can I take its life away from it."

She started crying again, and I felt like an idiot. I just got her stopped, and know I had to cause it to start again. I don't even know how to try and navigate this minefield. I really wish I had help. Then it hits me, if I can talk Quinn into it, I do have help.

"Quinn," I pull her away from me a little so I can look her in the eye, "You know that I'm always there for you right? That I'll always have your back, and will help in any way that I possibly can?" When she nods I forge on, "I may have a solution to some of your problems, and someone who can help come up with the solutions to the rest of them. I know these people really well, and they know how to keep a secret. Trust me on this one." When she starts to protest I rush out the rest, "Look Q, you and I can't do this alone. You're going to need a doctor, and someone who can handle your tears. I love ya like a sister Q, but the water works freak me out. Besides one of the people I have in mind is a pediatrician. He can help you without anyone else finding out. We can do this alone Quinn. It's possible, but we'd be able to do it so much better with just a little more help."

"I don't know San. I don't even know what I want to do. I-I Just don't know anything right now. It's all so confusing."

I pull Quinn into a hug, "I know that Quinn. I know this is hard, but you have to think of the baby. If you're going to keep it you need medical attention. Do you want to go somewhere where it can get back to your parents, or do you want to go to people who can be trusted. I've trusted these people for months now. They know how to keep a secret. You'll be safe with them, and I'll be there with you. I'm not trying to shoulder you off onto someone else. I can practically feel you thinking that. That's not what this is about. I just want to make sure you're going to be okay."

I take a deep breath. I don't think I've ever said so much at one time, but what I said was true. I just wanted to make sure Quinn was helped, and the Berry's were the perfect people. Rachel would be able to keep the news a secret at school, Jordan would make sure she was eating properly, and Leroy could help with the pregnancy. It was a perfect situation, and it would put me back in my proper role, the friend she bitched to. I just needed her to go for it; I'd already promised not to tell anyone without her permission.

"Do you really think your people will help me, and that it won't get back to my parents? Seeing a doctor would be nice. If..If I do keep the baby I want to make sure it's healthy."

"Yeah, Quinn, they won't tell anyone, but I have to talk to them first. You're not the only one with a secret. If nothing else I'll talk to the doctor and learn everything I need to know to help you. No matter what Q, I'm here for you."

This time when she started crying it didn't panic me as much, maybe that's because I knew that this was happy tears. I could feel how much she had relaxed against me. I may have done it a little awkwardly, but I managed to do all the right things. Now I just had to convince Rachel and Jordan to let Quinn in. Well mostly Jordan, I had a feeling if she wanted it Rachel wouldn't be able to stand in her way.

I'm nervous as I walk up to the Berry house. Earlier today I took Rachel out on our first date, and now I'm coming back to ask the whole family for help. I left Quinn at my house sleeping on my bed. She was exhausted by the crying. Truthfully so was I, crying is not my strong point or weak point for that matter.

I know that I was able to just walk through the door whenever I wanted, but this was too important to do wrong so I rang the bell. It was just after supper, so I knew that they were all sitting in the living room talking. I always left before this time because it felt like intruding.

When Hiram opens up the door I smile at him, "Hi Dr. H. Do you think I can talk to everyone? I have a problem that I need help with."

He gave me a concerned look, "Of course Santana. You know we feel like you're family. Anything we can do to help you we will."

I just nodded and walked into the foyer. I think I'm as nervous now as I was earlier. I just needed to talk fast so Rachel didn't think I'd already given up her game. She had just become my girlfriend, and I didn't want problems so soon.

When I walked into the living room the other three Berrys looked up at me. This was going to be hard. "Hi." Damn, I sound like an idiot. I must because Jordan is trying to hide her laughter. She's always the calmest of the bunch, and if she's laughing then it must be bad.

"I have to ask you guys something. It's really big. You're the only one who I can think of that can help."

They all became somber and serious, "I have a friend who's in trouble. I won't tell you her name because I didn't tell her your names, but she's in serious trouble and needs help."

Rachel's dad, Leroy, stands up from the couch and comes over to me, "Santana, you know that we'll help you. What kind of trouble is your friend in?"

"She's pregnant, and I think she wants to keep the baby."

The Berry men look at me with sympathy. Rachel just looked confused, and Jordan gave me a small nod. That one little nod made me relax. Despite what anyone else thought, I knew that Jordan was in charge. They always gave into her, mostly because what she wanted always turned out good for everyone involved, and she was giving me support.

I looked directly at Rachel, she is the one I need to convince, "This girl goes to McKinley, and she doesn't know the secret. If you guys agree to help me and her then she'll have to know about the play."

"Who is it?"

That's the question I was dreading, but I was going to stick to my plan, "I can't tell you that. If I do then you'll know something very personal about her that she trusted me to tell no one. I didn't tell her your name so you don't get hers either."

I crossed my arms and tried to look defiant. Quinn had been my best friend since the first day of kindergarten and I was not going to do anything to hurt her. Yeah, we had our differences, but when it came down to it we had each other's backs.

Leroy patted me on my back and gave me a supporting look.

"Songbird, I think Santana has a point. This girl is in a difficult position. This pregnancy will affect the rest of her life. Your play, while fun, has no real consequences for your future. I'm assuming Santana is asking this of us because there's some need for discretion," When I nod he continues, "and who better to be discrete then the girl who lies every day at school."

"Daddy don't be silly. I don't lie at school, I act."

Leroy and I both gave her a look. Acting was not very different than lying, she must have rethought her outburst because she huffed and folded her arms, pouting into the couch. She looked so adorable. I started grinning like a fool before I caught myself and stopped. Rachel had noticed though, and she smiled just a little bit.

I let out a huge sigh of relief, "Thank you. Thank you all. This means so much to me. I was so scared when she told me she was pregnant. I don't know how to take care of someone, let alone a pregnant person." I gave Leroy a hug then sat down next to Rachel. I pulled her into a hug, and jumped apart when someone cleared their throat.

"Oh god, the pregnancy stuff made me forget, Hiram, Leroy I would like to ask permission to date your daughter. I know how special she is, and if you grant your permission I promise to do my best to treat her the way she deserves."

I hold my breath waiting for their response. I had wanted to sit them down and talk to them tomorrow, but Quinn had forced my hand. I sent out a prayer that they would say yes. I know that I wouldn't give her up if they said no, but it would complicate things.

Hiram walked over to me, and placed his hands on my shoulder, "Santana. You're a good girl, and we trust you to treat our daughter right." I beamed up at him. This went better than planned, but he wasn't finished yet, "Now tell us more about this girl. When do we get to meet her?"

**Jordan's POV**

I was proud of Santana. She's a wonderful friend and has a good head on her shoulders. Not many teenagers would think to ask for help until it's too late. I'm just hoping that Rachel doesn't blow up when this mysterious friend comes over. Santana had never revealed the name last night. She said it wasn't fair if we knew when she didn't. If it's who I think it is, I'm pretty sure she just wants to see the looks on both of their faces.

It's only about twenty minutes before Santana arrives with the girl, and Rachel is about to wear a hole through the floor.

"If you can't do anything productive come roll out this dough. It'll keep you from driving me insane."

She huffed and glared at me but came over to roll out the cookie dough. I was making an extra batch for the new girl. The first time Santana tried my cookies she ate the whole plate. Then she threw them up, it was way too many cookies for one person. This time I'm only going to bring out a few at a time. I'd learned my lesson.

I worked with Rachel for twenty minutes baking cookies, and frosting the cool ones when the doorbell rang. Rachel was rolling out the next round so I went to go get the door. I wasn't nervous because I knew that Santana was going to be there. When I opened the door I was happy to see that I had guessed correctly.

"Hello, Quinn. Please come in and welcome to my home. I'm Jordan Berry, you know my sister."

"No, no, no, no. Santana tell me she's joking. We can't be at manhands house. I thought you brought me to someone you were close to?"

I just laughed; Santana wasn't paying any attention to Quinn. She had smelt the cookies I had in the oven. Despite her small mishap the first time she ate some, Santana could never get enough of them. I envied the fact that she could eat whatever she wanted and still stay slim. I just took solace in the fact that everything I made was healthy.

"I'm sorry Quinn, but you lost Santana the moment she walked into the house. If you'd follow me to the kitchen we can have our conversation in there. It'll be more relaxed that way."

Poor girl, she looked so confused. I gently grabbed her elbow to lead her towards the kitchen. The faster we got a few things cleared up, the faster she could relax. She was so tense. Hopefully we would be able to lighten a bit of her burden. She looked so worn down that all I wanted to do was cocoon her in warmth and care and help her recover.

When we walked into the kitchen we interrupted a moment between Santana and Rachel. We hadn't been very far behind them. I don't understand how Santana had the time to pin Rachel to the wall, and work her hand up Rae's shirt.

"Oh god! I think I need to gouge my eyes out."

They sprang apart as soon as Quinn spoke. It was so cute, they were both blushing. I couldn't help but laugh and tease them.

"Okay children, no sex in the kitchen I have to cook in here."

Rachel just reached out and gave me a small shove, while both Santana and Quinn were muttering with their heads in their hands.

"Okay everyone please take a seat at the island. Santana will you sit in the middle, please?" When they had all complied I continued, "Thank you. Now I realize that this is going to start out a little tense, and there are some strong emotions in this room but I would like everyone to remain calm. There are some misunderstandings that need to be cleared up first. I think that it's only fair that Rachel and I start first."

I took a breath and allowed anyone who wanted to time to protest my taking charge. When no one did I continued, "The major thing is that Rachel is not who you think she is. In reality she is a very sweet laid back girl who happens to love to sing, dance, and act. We concocted an elaborate play to cope with moving here to Lima."

Rachel jumped in, "Yeah, I was really upset that my dads were making us move here. Jordan pitched the idea to me, and I use it as a way to hone my acting skills. Dakota Stanley was a ploy that Santana and I worked on to bring the glee club to the brink of ruin and then build it back up."

"But… But Dakota was my idea." Quinn sputtered.

"Ha bitch we just made you think that." The Latina gloated.

"Though Santana's manners leave something to be desired I can vouch for the fact that they worked you along with everyone during that event." I told the flummoxed blonde. She's really cute when she looks confused. I couldn't help but feel like I knew her from somewhere. I just shrugged and continued with the conversation.

"So Quinn, now that you've heard us out do you have any questions?" When she shakes her head no I continue, "I have a few if you don't mind answering them."

"I guess I don't mind. You guys already know my biggest secret, and I know yours. It's not like things could get any worse for me."

"I think you're right. Things can only get better from here. Have you thought about how you're going to handle this at school? All I know about pregnant women I googled, but I know that there are going to be signs that people will see, especially those that see you every day. And Rachel tells me that the two largest gossips in glee club."

She nodded, "Yeah, Kurt and Mercedes. If anything happens in high school they know about it. I hadn't really thought about that. I don't want anyone to find out, but I don't know how to keep it a secret."

Rachel caught on almost immediately to what I was thinking, "You know… I can help you with that. All I have to do is cause a lot of drama. Then everyone will be focused on me instead of you. I know it won't last forever, but it'll give you some more time to figure this out."

"You'd do that for me? I don't understand. I've always been so mean to you. Why would you want to help."

The rest of us laugh a little, "Quinn, we discussed this. At school I purposefully make myself as irritating as possible. If I was in your place I would make fun of me too. Besides, you'll still have to act that way towards me at school, and I like being annoying. I find this game we're playing fun."

"Quinn," I interject, "What we do is a game. It's something to pass the time. What's going on with you is real. We may not know each other very well now, but I hope that one day soon you'll be able to count us as two of your best friends. Speaking of best friends, I feel that we're one player short."

They all looked at me confused. I took a bite of my third cookie and just smiled. Sometimes they can be so dense.

"Brittany. We're missing Brittany, the third person in the Unholy Trinity. Now that Quinn is in on the secret I feel that we should tell her. I think if we don't then it will cause some problems with Quinn and Santana's relationship with her. Besides, I've always wanted to meet her. She sounds like a lovely person."

Santana and Quinn looked at each other than looked at Rachel, "If Jordan says we should allow her in then I'm all for it. It might help Quinn adjust better if there's another person new to this."

Santana nodded and pulled out her cell phone, "Okay, I'll call her."

**Rachel's POV**

It's Wednesday, three days after Quinn and Brittany joined my play. I was rather excited. What had started out as a mere game now had a solid purpose, to help Quinn. There was something rewarding about using my talents for good. It just felt better than using them for fun, that and I got to step up my game. I needed to do my best to distract the glee club, and more importantly Finn. You see Quinn didn't get pregnant by her boyfriend. No that would be too easy, she instead got pregnant by her boyfriend's best friend. I of course had been overjoyed about that revelation, that is until Jordan smacked me upside the back of my head. Apparently, drama is only good in plays, not real life.

It was my secondary job to keep Finn so distracted that he didn't find out the baby wasn't his, at least until Quinn was done hiding it. I was given permission to do whatever was necessary. I didn't like it at all, but Santana insisted. I'd be annoyed that she wanted me to pursue a guy while we're dating, but it was so sweet how she wanted to protect Quinn. I figured that if it was Jordan in Quinn's place I would do whatever I could to make it easier for her. The only condition I had was communication. I wanted all of us to openly talk about everything that happened. The only way for this to work out is if everyone is completely open.

Today was the big day. The day the act starts. My job is to cause a scene and quit glee, and Quinn is supposed to tell Finn. We all argued about that. No one wanted her to tell him. He would be an unknown in the equation, that's why I had to keep him chasing me. We figured if he went after me, he wouldn't have time to cause waves. It would give us until Quinn started showing too much to figure out what would happen.

I was standing in the choir room by the piano when Mr. Schue gave me the perfect reason to cause a scene. I was just happy that the trio wasn't here. They liked to tease me about my behavior when we hang out.

I mentally prepped myself to begin the acting, "E-excuse me. This-this isn't the right key," nailed it. That had just the right amount of incredulousness to it.

"No, it's actually the right key"

God, sometimes I loved Schue. He made what I do so easy.

"This is the alto part."

"Yep. Tina's doing the solo."

"I'm-I'm sorry there must be some sort of mix-up. I thought I made it very clear that anything from 'West Side Story' goes to me. Maria is my part. Natalie Wood was a Jew, you know. I've had a very deep, personal connection to this role since the age of one."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I could tell that everyone was paying attention to me, and that they didn't think that this was unusual. Everything hinged on them believing me.

"Well I'm trying to shake things up a bit, get us out of our boxes."

Schue sounded so tired. I knew that he was getting sick of my attitude. He was so easy to break.

"You're trying to punish me."

"I think you're being irrational."

"I think you're being unfair."

"I think you're being unfair to Tina, who might have been happy about getting her first solo."

"Tina knows how much I respect her, and I think she would agree with me that she's not ready for such an iconic role as Maria."

I stormed out of the room so I could think. I was starting to feel a little cheated. There wasn't enough drama here to justify quitting. I'd have to put it off for a little while. Damn it, why is this happening now. I hated to admit defeat, but there was nothing else I could do.

All of my previous acts had worked out perfectly. Why did the one that truly counted have to fail? I just prayed that Quinn's part went a little better. Today I needed some good news and a brainstorming session with Jordan. She'd know how I could stay in character and still quit. I just needed something to justify it.

I started banging my head against Santana's shoulder. We were in my living room detailing everything that had happened today for the play. I had decided to sit in Santana's lap because I needed the extra comfort, and I was glad I had. Not only had my part failed, but Quinn's part had too.

"I thought we talked about this Quinn. You were supposed to talk to Finn somewhere, where you wouldn't be overheard. Now we have two unknowns in an act that isn't going correctly."

She looked down at her hands with a frown. Jordan glared at me, and reached over to hold her hand. Hmmm…

"Songbird, be nice. Quinn isn't as used to this as we are, or even like Santana is. You remember how hard your first play had been. Sometimes things just don't go as planned. At least we know that Puck won't say anything to anyone."

Quinn gave Jordan a grateful look, and I pouted.

"I was seven Star, seven. I don't think that is anywhere near the same thing, but I will concede that Quinn had reason to be nervous. Quinn, please don't think that I'm upset or think any less of you. I'm just frustrated that the most important thing I've had to do since moving here isn't going to plan. And Star, how do you know that Puck won't tell?"

"Oh, he won't tell because he doesn't want anyone to know he got his best friend's girl pregnant."

We all looked at Santana as she knew puck the best. She just shrugged, agreeing with Jordan. I looked at all the others and sighed. Today had not gone as planned, but there was always tomorrow. We would just have to work harder to make this all work.

Brittany was sitting in the recliner. We had brought her into our plan, but as of yet she hadn't had much to say. Oh, don't get me wrong, Brittany was a blast. She brought so much fun to the group, but she didn't say much about the play. Now she was raising her hand.

"You don't have to raise your hand Brittany. You're among friends, you can talk whenever you like."

"I know. I just wanted to make sure all the big talk was finished, and I have a question."

"Okay Britt, what's your question?"

"Why do you call Jordan Star, and why does she call you Songbird. I mean S, Q and I have our nicknames, but ours have to deal with our names."

Quinn nodded, "Yeah, I've been wondering the same think."

"You know, me too," Santana chimed in.

I looked over at Jordan and quirked an eyebrow at her. If they were going to get an answer, then Jordan was going to give it. It was her story after all. I'm just a player in it.

Jordan sighed, and relaxed further back into the house. Coincidently she moved a little closer to Quinn and slyly landed pressed against the taller girls shoulder. I could tell that Jordan felt extra comfortable with Quinn, and decided to talk to her about it later.

"Well, when I was first adopted the only thing that would put me to sleep was music. Our dads can't sing to save their own lives, so the task fell to Rachel. I liked to sing along with Rachel, but the only song I knew was "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". We sang it at least four to five times a day for an entire month. That's how long it took Rachel to teach me a different song."

She shrugged, drawing more into herself. I climbed off of Santana's lap to go sit beside her before finishing the story, "Because Jordan made me sing that song so much I started to call her Star. My nickname came about five months after Jordan's. Spring had arrived, and with it came some songbirds that nested outside of our room. It became commonplace for me to come into the room and find Jordan asleep. She said that the birds reminded her of me. That they made such beautiful music, just like I did every time I sang for her. So that's how we came up with our nicknames."

"Awe, that's so sweet."

Brittany stood up and moved over to the couch that Jordan, Quinn, and I were sitting on. She pulled Santana up with her and stood in front of her. She had this kinda crazy grin on her face. I was a little scared until she pulled Santana down onto the couch with her.

"Group hug!"

We all laughed. I'm glad that Brittany was a part of our group. She brought such a light to us.

After everyone left I helped Jordan clean up the dishes. She always cooked some sort of snack for the group when they came over. I had been a little disappointed that Tina couldn't come over, but her parents had set her up on another date with Mike.

"So Jo, you seemed cozy with a certain blonde today." I remarked trying to play it cool.

She nodded, "Yeah, it's hard not to be when Britt is such a touchy feel person."

I flick her with the towel, "That's not who I meant, and you know it."

Jordan stopped washing the dishes and stood there staring at the suds for a few minutes. "She just… I don't know, she makes me feel things. It's like I knew her from my past, but I don't know anyone from here in Lima. My biological family moved after what happened, but she still feels so familiar." Jordan looked up at me with this lost look on her face, "I don't know what to do Rae. I've never felt this way about anyone before, and it's just my luck to feel it for the pregnant straight girl."

I pulled her into a bear hug, "Oh Jordan, don't worry so much. If anyone can turn a straight girl you can."

**Rachel's POV**

After half a week of relatively drama free days, I was at my wits end. I needed a reason to quit glee, one that would cause a stir. Quinn's morning sickness was getting bad. She was running out of rooms, about every thirty minutes. Most people bought that she had a bug, but I could see the glee members getting curious. I was desperate enough to admit defeat. I needed help and I need it now.

It was Sunday evening, and another week was about to start. The whole gang was in my living room and we were brainstorming ideas.

"What if Rachel gets sick? Then she'll have to leave." Brittany questioned, after several hours of talking.

"It would work for short term, but I don't think that it would cause enough drama. With the invitational coming up we need Rachel to quit the club, and not want to come back. If we can get the group trying to win her back then we can keep them from finding out about Quinn." Tina gently told Brittany.

She had a point. I needed to quit, but I couldn't figure out how. Nothing was major enough to quit over. Everyone was being accommodating except for Schuester. I just needed a catalyst. That way when it was time to rejoin, I could say that all was resolved, or that I now learned from my past behaviors.

We were getting nowhere. It had been the same talk all night long, and it was nearly time for supper. Jordan had left us after the first half hour to go bake. She always thought better when she baked, and I was counting on her to figure out what no one else could.

Jordan came into the living room with her apron still on, "Quinn, how manipulating to you think you can be?"

"I'm pretty good at it," Quinn shrugged, "What is it that you want me to do?"

Jordan just shrugged and walked back into the kitchen. She had been asking random questions all night. No one knew what to make of it. I just left her be, she'd clam up if I pushed. I just needed something fast, or I'd lose my mind.

"That's it. I've had enough. We can't work this out right now. We need to give our minds a break. Besides, we haven't done anything fun all week. We need to relax and maybe watch a movie." Quinn said getting up to find a DVD.

I sighed, Quinn had a point. We hadn't gotten anywhere since the first misstep on Wednesday. A break sounded good. Just as I was about to get up to get a DVD after Quinn had given up, Jordan came out of the kitchen.

"Supper's in the oven, and I've thought of a solution to the problem."

She stretched out on the couch laying her head in Quinn's lap, with her feet in Brittany's lap. We all watched her, waiting for her to continue. We waited, and we waited, but she seemed content just to lie there.

"Mind sharing with the rest of the class, Star?"

"Share what? Aren't we going to watch a movie? Oh, and while we're all here we should talk about a party sometime soon. We all need to blow off some steam."

"Jordan," Santana practically growled, "If you've figured it out then fucking tell us. We don't have all the time in the world to make this work."

Jordan huffed, "Fine, I'll tell you. I just thought we were going to do some relaxing. That's what you guys decided right before I came into the room."

Quinn looked down at Jordan with a frown, "Yes, but that was before you told us you had a plan. We want to get this settled before we relax. We just couldn't come up with anything suitable."

"Sigh. Fine, I'll tell you my brilliant plan. A musical."

"A musical? That's all you have for us?" I ask her slightly irritated. I'm not in the mood for her games, "Why don't you pretend that we're Finn and you want us to understand."

"Well, first you must get someone besides Schue to put on a musical. I'm thinking that Sue would be your best bet. She already has motive to want Rachel to quit. We just need Santana and Quinn to tell Sue that Rachel is unhappy and looking for something better, then sit back and wait for her to do her job. It's actually quite simple if you think about it. I would have told you earlier, but I feel it's best for you self-development if you work these things out on your own."

I stared at her. I didn't want to believe what she just said meant what I thought it meant, but it was hard.

"Jordan," I said slowly, trying to maintain my temper, "how long have you had this idea, and let us flounder?"

I must not be doing a good job at hiding how mad I am because she sinks back into the couch.

"Since Wednesday. I just wanted you guys to come up with it yourselves."

She had fully sat up on the couch and drawn into herself. I was mad at her, but I didn't want to scare her.

"It's okay Star, we're not mad at you..."

"You may not but I am." Santana practically yelled from her seat, "We could have already had this going..." "Santana,"

I said sharply, giving her a glare, "We are not mad, and we will not be mad. Jordan may be a player in this game, but she is still a bystander. We are the ones on the front line. We have to react to things at school every day with no help from each other. Jordan is right; we need to learn to think for ourselves. We haven't been doing well in our endeavor. That may be because we're over complicating it. We don't need to do things by ourselves. We've already set up players who do predictable things. Now is the time to use them to our advantage."

I saw Santana look over towards Jordan and see what I saw. A girl who was scared of the backlash she never expected. Santana looked at me and I shook my head. I would tell her later what was going on when we were alone. For now a good movie would be the best for everyone."

When I got up again to grab a DVD I saw Quinn slide over and put her arms around the still tense Jordan. I hadn't meant to get angry with her, and I had never explained to any of the others that Jordan was scared of loud angry voices. It took her back to the single worst thing that had ever happened to her.

"Okay who's up for a musical." I asked to break the tension, and laugh at the groans. "Just kidding."

I put in Jurassic Park, and sat back down on the couch practically on Santana's lap.

"What's about this party thing?" Tina asked from her place next to Brittany. "Are we going to plan one? I for one would enjoy having a party. Even though I'm not directly involved in much, it's still stressful waiting for everything to work its self out.

"Yeah a party sounds awesome." Brittany enthused.

I looked over at Jordan and she gave me a small smile, "Okay. How about in two Fridays we have a party. Since I won the little game I get to pick the theme, and it's going to be a classic sleepover. So everyone needs to bring stuff to stay and were going to do things girls normally do at a sleepover."

Everyone was really excited about the prospect and the discussion about what we should do lasted into the movie, and well past supper. I was just happy that things were once again looking up.


	4. Finale

**Hello everyone! This is the final installment. It's taken a long time but I've finally finished this story. I hope you all like it. **

* * *

><p>Well Jordan was as brilliant as ever. Quinn and Santana convinced Sue to spearhead a musical, and the first thing she did was offer me the lead role. I accepted but I didn't quit the club right away. I was waiting for Schue to give the solo back to Tina. That would be the perfect time for a Rachel Berry storm out. I didn't think it would be very long. Schue was trying to "punish" me by trying to make the feel better. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Schue was still mad about the Dakota thing.<p>

It had been a couple days since I had made it clear that I would quit, and I had seen the glee members in the hall glaring at me. They knew that they needed me; honestly I had been professionally trained since I was small while none of them had any training at all, but they were too proud to admit it. If it wasn't for the play I would actually enjoy taking a break from the club. I hated practicing for something I knew I wouldn't finish anyway. I would join back into the club before the play even started. There would be no need for me to refuse to join when Quinn's secret comes out.

When everyone found out about the baby things were going to get bad. Really bad, and we still needed a plan to cope with everything. Quinn was used to being on top, and this was going to put her at the bottom. Jordan had taken over walking Quinn through what her life would be like from the perspective of someone on the bottom, mine of course. Seems my initial acting is coming into some use after all.

My musings were interrupted when I heard a door open. I was doing my warm-down after ballet class, and I had thought I was the only one in the building. I look up and see it's Mr. Schue just as he asks me why I've quit glee club. I had expected him to try and convince me to come back, but in a slightly less creepy area. Oh well, the show must go on.

"An opportunity arose for me to showcase my talents, and I took it. How is that any different from when you quit glee to form your boy band?"

"Because I didn't do it out of spite."

He acts like he's so superior, like nothing he does is wrong. I know for a fact that he quit because I made him feel like a failure. That is in no way different from my supposed reasons.

"I'm offended by that accusation. I've always been a team player. Just admit it, Mr. Schue. You don't like me very much."

"That's not true. I am your biggest and sometimes your only fan."

Wow, he really is full of himself. He knows nothing about my life. He has no right to come in here to judge me. He's such a pompous ass.

"Look, I know who I am, okay? I know I can be a little abrasive, bossy, and conceited. I'm just hurt that you chose to judge me on that rather than on my talent. I know it sounds awful, but I'm the best one in there. I try the hardest, and I want it the most."

"Everyone knows that, and they're scared of it. They all think that they can slack off because you'll pick up their weight. We can't win regionals like that. We need everyone to think that they're a star."

"I'm not quitting glee. I'm just looking for a reason to stay."

"Oh, like me taking the solo away from Tina?"

"Everyone on the team is getting something out of being there. You're doing a great job of getting them out of their shells. Except for me. I'm still getting my lipstick flushed in the toilet. I still don't have a boyfriend. Tina's great, but why do you have to hurt me to make her feel good?"

"Just come to rehearsal." He practically begged.

I stormed out of the room feeling great. I had given Schue just enough reasons to know that I was serious. I still knew that he would give Tina the solo. He was nothing if not consistent, but I didn't care about that anymore. I had a date with Santana to get ready for. She was surprising me with something fun, or so she promised. She said that we deserved some fun time that was just us. We'd spent so much time with the group working on the play that our personal relationship hadn't gone very far. Yes we snuck private moments whenever we could, but they were too brief for our liking.

Tonight was going to be the start of a tradition. Even though this was originally Santana's idea, I am going to make sure that we go out, just us two, at least once a week. We needed some time where we weren't worried about being anything other than our selves.

I was both mad at Jordan and grateful for her. Mad because she knows where Santana is taking me, and won't tell; grateful for her because she picked out my outfit. Now I didn't have to worry about fitting in where ever we're going. It was Santana's idea, and it made me like her a whole lot more. She's going the distance to make this as relaxing as she can. I don't know how I got so lucky.

I heard the doorbell ring and smoothed down my shirt. Jordan had picked out a green top that hinted at cleavage, but was very tasteful. It actually came from Jordan's closet. She must really like Santana if she's letting me borrow her shirt for a date. I had rejected a lighter pair of jeans in favor of my favorite dark wash ones. I hoped that Santana liked my outfit.

I headed down the stairs, and my breath caught in my throat. Santana was wearing an off the shoulder white top that went perfectly with her skin tone. She looked gorgeous, and I couldn't wait for our date to start. I was quite excited, and more curious than ever to find out where we were going.

Santana looked up, and I could see by the look in her eyes that Jordan had done a good job. I looked hot, and Santana is practically drooling. She met me at the end of the stairs and gave me a sweet slow kiss. It was a perfect start to what I hoped would be a perfect evening.

"You look beautiful, Rachel. Are you ready to head out? We have about a half hour drive ahead of us."

"We do?" I asked surprised?

"Yes. I want to take you out. Somewhere public, but I can't do that here. Not because I don't want to, but because of the play. Just trust me. The drive will be worth it."

I just nodded, following Santana's logic. She placed her hand on the small of my back to lead me out to the car. She's so charmingly chivalrous at times. I found it lovely. It's hard to find someone who treats a girl right. I'm going to have to take Santana out on a date soon, so I can treat her the way she deserves.

Once we're in the car, Santana starts driving. We talk about everything; our past, old crushes, what we want to do in the future, even cheesy pick up lines we've heard. It was so nice just being with her. If she hadn't taken me anywhere, and we had sat in my room talking I would have been happy, just being with Santana made me feel giddy. It had since the very first day I saw her.

We pulled up to a slightly upscale restaurant that had a laid back feel to it.

"I googled all the places around Lima for that served vegan food. The reviews on this one said it was really good." She shrugged looking down at her feet. She looked so shy at that moment.

I leaned over and cupped her face, "It makes me feel special when you do things like this for me." I leaned in closer and kissed her. We kissed for several minutes before Santana pulled away.

She smiled at me, "As much as I love doing that, we're going to miss our reservations. I planned this wonderful evening, and I don't want to miss any of the parts."

I smiled and gave her a quick kiss before getting out of the car. I waited for her at the front of the car, so that I could take her hand before walking towards the restaurant. It was really nice not to have to worry about anyone seeing us together. It felt freer, I loved it.

After a marvelous supper Santana wrapped her hand around my waist as we walked out. I leaned into her, loving the feel of her against my body. I really hoped that this date included some alone time. It was too soon for everything, but a little would be nice.

We had talked all through dinner, and the conversation had continued to the car. Everything had gone perfectly so far.

"Are you ready for our next surprise? I think you're going to like it."

"You mean there's more? This has been the best date that I've ever had; I can't believe there's more."

"Trust me; the best is yet to come."

Santana got this smug look on her face, and refused to tell me where we were going. I wanted to be mad at her, but I just couldn't muster the effort. I was too happy and content. She just made all the stress I was feeling go away. I have no idea how I ended up being so lucky.

To say I was shocked when she pulled up to a bowling alley would be an understatement. I loved bowling, and went at least once a month when I lived in Columbus. I don't think Santana knew this because it had never came up. That made it more special. It felt like Santana knew me as well as I knew myself.

We walked into the alley and rented our shoes. Now I understood why Jordan insisted that I wear my chucks instead of a pair of prettier shoes. I was excited to play with Santana. We both are very competitive. Things could get interesting fast.

After we finished putting on our shoes and picked out our balls, we played rock paper scissors to see who would bowl first. Santana won and after a ridiculously cute victory dance she threw a strike.

I pouted and decided to play with her. If she and I were both good at this then maybe some good natured teasing would add some fun.

I walked over to my ball and gave Santana my pouty face, "How am I supposed to do this?"

"Here, let me show you. Bowling's easy once you get the hang of it."

She helped me put my fingers in the correct holes and led me toward the lane. I felt her press up against my back and shivered. I'm not sure who was teasing who anymore. She ran her hand down my arm towards the bowling ball. She leaned in real close and whispered in my ear, "I know you can bowl. Consider the game on." I closed my eyes and shuddered. I had got played, but I didn't mind. The things Santana did to me were well worth the gutter ball I threw.

The entire game was spent trying to throw off the others game. There were touches, whispered comments and all other distractions we could think of. It was the best game of bowling I had ever played. Our scores were terrible, but we still had a blast.

It was late when Santana pulled up to my house. I was sad that our date was coming to an end. We spent some time making out before a knock startled us. We broke apart and laughed because Brittany had her faced pressed against the window. She was making a funny face at us while Quinn and Jordan stood behind us. I gave Santana one last kiss before getting out.

"I've had a wonderful night Santana. I can't wait until our next date."

Santana smiled bashfully as Quinn and Brittany got in the car.

"What are you two doing here anyway?

"We're going to tease her while she drives us home," Quinn said with an evil smile on her face.

"She's joking. We've just been spending time with Jordan, and we live on the way to Santana's house. Why walk, when S can take us home?" Brittany calmly explained. She was used to everyone's dramatics.

I waved as I watched Santana drive away. Today had been a perfect day. Things were looking up. For the first time since Quinn walked through my front door I had a peaceful night's sleep.

* * *

><p>Everything in the act is going as planned, but that doesn't mean I had to like it. I thought I would enjoy being in the musical. Boy was I wrong. Mr. Ryerson spent more time criticizing me than directing. Plus, I missed being able to spend time with my friends in glee club. Mostly Santana, but I missed the others too.<p>

Since quitting the glee club I had practically isolated myself. It made the school day long and unbearable. For the first time in my life I didn't want to be at school. Again, that probably is mostly Santana's fault. Does it make me a bad person to want to spend more time with my girlfriend? School, along with the various extracurricular classes I am taking, takes up most of my day. Jordan spends more time with my girlfriend than I do, and it makes me sad.

I hope this act ends soon so I can at least spend the two hours of glee with her. Sure we can't actually talk to each other, but we're both adept at texting without being caught. In fact, that's the reason I'm still sane. Santana is sweet and sends me little pick me ups throughout the day. Her softer side is surprisingly wonderful.

I'm thinking about all of this while Jacob Ben-Israel is interviewing me. Why, because he's a pervert and I need something to distract me. Santana and Quinn had decided that doing an interview was so "Rachel Berry". Well, here I am, being bored to death by a little creep who is too fond of me.

"Show me your bra."

What the hell did he just say? Please tell me he's joking."

"You mean the one I'm wearing?"

He looks way too excited. He can't possibly believe that I would show him my bra."

"Quid pro quo Rachel. You want a good review show me your over the shoulder boulder holder."

God, he is so gross. I can't believe they let creeps like him live. He should be locked in a cage somewhere. Maybe I'll ask Santana or Quinn to slushy him tomorrow.

"No way! You can't do that. My performance will stand on its own, besides no one reads the school paper anyway."

"Oh, but I'll post my scathing review online. You'll be finished on the high school stage. Now get those sweater puppies out of their cashmere cage."

Thank god for Mr. Ryerson. I don't think I could have listened to that creep any longer without punching him in the face. I looked down just to make sure that he couldn't have possibly seen anything when Finn walks in.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Perfect, he couldn't have walked in a few minutes later, could he? It had to be now, when it looked like I was checking myself out. Maybe he's too stupid to notice.

"Nothing. I, uh, just getting the star treatment that I didn't get in glee."

"Totally."

"It's times like these that I know I've chosen the right path. I'm never going back to glee. It's clear that my talent is too big for an ensemble."

"Not going to get an argument from me."

"I'm not?"

"No. You're like the most talented person I know, even more than that guy at the mall that can juggle chainsaws. I just wanted to let you know that if you need someone to run lines with, I'm available."

"There is a lot of dialog."

"Figured we could go somewhere quite, maybe with low lighting and…. Let me know."

I am flabbergasted. Does Finn know nothing? This is the part where he tries to convince me to rejoin glee club. I of course will say no, but he's still supposed to try. This is not making me want to come back at all. At least he gets a C in flirting. He's crude, but flattery will work for my character. That makes part two of the plan go smoother. Finn had better play his part right. Too many things have already gone wrong in this act. I don't want any more to go wrong. I just I wish I felt like Finn wasn't going to screw up somehow.

* * *

><p>Finn and I agreed to meet in the choir room after school. I really didn't want to, but I had to make myself available to him. As a group we had long discussions about how to deal with Finn. He was a complex puzzle that needed to be solved just right. Quinn wanted him to remain her boyfriend, but felt bad about sleeping with Puck. She also felt guilty for not telling him he wasn't the father.<p>

That's where I come in. I get to catch Finn's attention to make Quinn feel better. She says it makes her feel less guilty if he's starting to wander too. Personally I think Quinn is fooling herself. I don't think she ever liked Finn. I mean he barely got to second base, and she let Puck hit it home. But, I am on orders from Jordan not to say anything. She says that Quinn is young and confused. That it's natural to cling to something in your life that seems stable. I guess I see where she's coming from. Quinn's life has been flipped upside down recently.

None of that means I have to enjoy being around Finn. His stupidity annoys me, that and his dopey grin makes me want to hurl. There's nothing I can do though. I'm taking one for the team. Me being into Finn helps Quinn, but it also helps Santana and I. As long as I'm "into" Finn, no one will suspect that I'm dating Santana.

"'I'm sleeping with him.'" I said reading from my script.

"'So am I,'" Finn read in reply, "This play is weird."

Though it pained me, I had to agree, but well most plays are weird. I'm tired of practicing, maybe it's time to turn on the charm.

"That's Mr. Ryerson's favorite line. You're a really good actor Finn; maybe you should consider joining the musical."

"Well I'm pretty devoted to glee. I don't think I could just walk away from it. I know how hard it was for you, but I could justify doing both if you came back. But we both know that's not going to happen. Do you know what we should do?"

"Elope?"

"What?" Finn asked me confused. I can't blame him. I have no idea why I said that. It's like my brain isn't connected to my mouth anymore.

"Nothing."

"We should go bowling. You're always so stressed out about the play. You just need to loosen up. I always go bowling whenever I'm worked up about a big game or something."

Seriously? This is going to be the worst date I'm ever going to go on. I had such a lovely time bowling with Santana, why does Finn have to try and ruin it.

"Just us?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, tha-tha-that would be great. I-I uh I am really stressed out, but that's the price you pay for being a star."

"Don't I know it?" a voice rang out from behind me.

What? I turned towards the door and saw this blonde woman next to Mr. Schue. I wonder what she's doing here?

"Hey Rachel. April Rhodes, Rachel Berry. Hey can you give us the room Rachel? We need to teach April the cues for 'Don't Stop Believing' "

What? This cannot be happening. How is this even possible? She's way older than a high school student, besides Mr. Schue isn't supposed to replace me. He's supposed to want me back.

"Wait, she's singing the female lead."

"Wait, she's in the glee club? She's ancient."

"Talent doesn't age sweetheart."

It must not if she couldn't do any better than a high school glee club. How pathetic. At least I'll make my dreams come true.

"That's Rachel's part Mr. Schue."

"Well Rachel's not in the glee club anymore."

At least Finn stood up for me. If I really was who I played I would probably fall for his innocent charm, but I'm not and it makes me want to gag. I have to get out of the room fast. I need to see the rest of the group. Something had to be done to get April out of glee. She's going to ruin everything we've worked so hard for. Why does everything have to be so hard?

I smiled at Finn and thanked him before I turned to leave, but Mr. Schue had to have the last word.

"Rachel, we're all really excited to see the play. Make sure you save us a seat in the front row."

What a condescending ass. It's so obvious he doesn't like me. I think he's just jealous of my talent. If only he knew how good of an actress I really am.

* * *

><p>I walked out of the school, and thankfully saw Jordan right off.<p>

"Hey Star. We're going to have another long night. Mr. Schue has thrown in a complication we never planned on."

She gave me a sympathetic look before pulling out, "Can I ask you a question before we get home and the play takes over?"

Jordan looked so nervous that I didn't even tease her that she had already asked a question, "Of course Star, you know you can ask me anything. You always come before anything else to me."

She reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a small squeeze. I was really concerned. Normally Jordan didn't have to ask for advice. Because of her psychology degree, she was able to read people better than I ever could.

"Do you think Quinn would like to go out with me sometime? Not like on a date or anything because even if she did like girls she doesn't know that, but as a friend? I mean, I'm the only one in the group who won't remind her of school."

To say that I was shocked is an understatement. Jordan never ever went anywhere without me there too. Not even in Columbus where we had known everyone for years she must really like Quinn. This was more serious than I had thought.

Jordan shrugged, looking thoughtful, "I just really like her, and want to get to know her better."

"I'm positive that Quinn would like to spend time with you. It would probably give her some time to just be normal again for a while." I said soothingly.

Jordan nodded at me and kept a hold of my hand as she finished driving home. We pulled into the driveway and I saw Santana's car parked at the curb. I hoped that Tina, Brittany, and Quinn were also inside because that would make starting our discussion easier. They were probably waiting for me to come in so they could tell me about April. Thankfully I'd met her, and had some time to think about what this means to us.

I walked into the house and was proven correct. Brittany and Quinn were sitting on the couch watching TV, which they turned off as soon as they saw me, while Tina was in an armchair. I didn't have much time to wonder where Santana was because she walked through the door to the kitchen holding two cups. She set the cups down and came over to me. As soon as she got close enough, she pulled me into her arms and kissed me. Even though all the others broke into applause and crude comments, it still made my day so much better.

Santana pulled me over to the recliner and sat down, pulling me on her lap. "We have a problem."

I snuggled into her relaxing, "I know. I met April Rhodes right before I left today. I never expected Schue to bring in someone else. I can only hope that she doesn't stick it out, or gets kicked out."

I can feel Santana shrug under me, "She's kind of cool. I don't think she'll last long, but she'll just be another thing to keep people distracted. Perhaps we can use this, instead of worrying about it."

Jordan nodded, "You're right. We should view this as a victory instead of a defeat. Schue has kindly provided another distraction to our act. I am sure that once she is deemed unnecessary you can get rid of her."

I sighed. They made a lot of sense, but that didn't make all of the problems go away.

"Then we'll shelf that problem, and deal with it later. Right now we need to focus on Operation Finn. I think he may be trying to get me back into glee, but it's a really convoluted plan if he is. He was actually helping me run lines when I met April, that and asking me to go bowling."

I felt Santana stiffen under me so I hastened to reassure her, "There is no way that it'll make our date any less special. I'll spend the whole time thinking about how much better it was with you."

I saw Quinn look over at us both with a sad look on her face, "Thank you for doing this for me. I know that it's awkward because you're dating, but I think it'll eventually pay off. I just wish things could be simpler."

Jordan moved over to sit beside Quinn and comfort her. We all hated to see Quinn get upset. I just hope that everything we're doing is going to turn out for the good. The problem with flying blind is not knowing where you're going to crash.

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Day (Still Rachel's POV)<strong>

Today's musical rehearsal had gone as horribly as all the previous ones. It was obvious that Mr. Ryerson didn't want me there. It didn't seem to matter that I knew exactly what I was doing; he always managed to find something he didn't like. I tried so hard not to let his words bother me, but it was hard. The only thing that kept me sane, was knowing how good of an actress I really am. It didn't stop me from having to run to the bathroom to cry though. That's where I was when April Rhodes walked in.

"Awe, Rough day at the office cookie?"

She has no idea, "I've just got a lot on my plate. It's not easy being in the spotlight. It's the difficult road I've chosen."

"I know that song sister."

I don't even know what to say to that. I know she's trying to be nice, but still. She has no idea what I'm going through on a daily basis.

"Um, do you have any Nyquil? I could use a little pick me up," April asked me out of the blue. I shake my head no because really who carries Nyquil with them. I'll just file the fact that she's trying to get high at school in the back of my head. That is probably going to be the reason we use to get her to leave.

In the middle of my plotting April starts talking again, "These high school boys are a lot hotter than they used to be. That Finn Hudson is one cutie pie I gots my eye on."

It makes me so mad. First April has to be in her thirties and Finn is only seventeen, so that's illegal. Not only that, but Finn has a girlfriend. This is an adult, she should know better, and besides I'm the one who Finn is supposed to be cheating on Quinn with. I angrily tell her, "Finn's taken April."

She just laughs and says, "Yeah well, some guys like a little something something on the side."

"I think your behavior is totally inappropriate. You're presence in this school is a complete travesty. What you choose to do with your life is your own business, but don't go around screwing up everyone else's."

"I'm not afraid of you sweetie. There was a time when I was the biggest star around here, and now that I've got that back I'm never letting it go."

That woman is so frustrating. As soon as she's left the bathroom hit the sink growling a little. I knew she was bad news the first time I saw her. First she takes my place in glee, and now she wants Finn. If we don't so something soon she's going to destroy my plan. I don't care what the others think; I'm going to take care of this now. I just need an adult on my side.

I left the bathroom with a new mission. I was headed to find Ms. Pillsbury to get her on my side. It wouldn't be too hard. All I had to do was mention April's name. It was obvious that she had a crush on Schue. Add into it the fact that April was teaching the glee to do illegal things; Ms. Pillsbury would talk Schue into getting rid of April.

* * *

><p>It was times like this that I hated being a good person. I had no desire to go out on a date with Finn. I'd much rather spend my time with my girlfriend, but I couldn't. I had told Quinn that I would help her in any way. I never thought that she would want me to help Finn cheat. I understand her reasons behind it, I just didn't like it too much. She needed to keep Finn busy so that he didn't discover that he wasn't the baby's father until she wanted him to know. I thought she should just tell Finn outright, but the trio all claimed it would be a bad idea. I just had to go with what they said. They all knew Finn better than I did. I just hope this doesn't blow up in my face.<p>

I had Jordan drop me off at the bowling alley so Finn wouldn't find out where I lived. The only reason Santana was so brazen to park in front of my house was because no one knew that's where I live. Jordan told me that whenever I was ready she would be here to pick me up.

I walked into the place and instantly saw Finn. It wasn't very hard because he's so tall. He towered over everyone there. I'm glad that I don't really want to date him. His large stature paired with my small one is frankly ludicrous. He's much too tall for me to consider seriously.

We rented our shoes and I slipped into my role. Today I was going to attempt the same play I had tried on Santana. Partly because I knew Finn would fall for it, but mostly to prove to myself that it would work.

"Do I have to put my fingers in the holes? Couldn't there be diseases in there or something?"

Finn gave me a dopey smile, and I sighed. There was no way he knew what I was doing. I guess that's good but I missed Santana.

"Ball sharing is all part of the fun. Here, use the pink one. Pink's you're favorite color right?" Finn said, handing me the pink ball.

I took it from him still pretending, "Now what?"

"Follow my lead."

Finn led me to over a foot away from the line on our lane. I was confused. Did he mean for me to actually bowl from here?

"Okay, so just look at the pins. Nice and straight."

Wow, he really did expect me to try to bowl from here. He must be terrible at bowling. I just internally shrugged and threw the ball. It of course ended up in the gutter. I already know that I'm going to have to throw the game. Guys don't really like if you're better than. It just makes me wish I was out with Santana again.

"Sure this is your first time?" Finn asked me as the ball made its way to the end of the lane. I just smiled at him. I had to keep up a happy lovesick appearance.

We spent most of the time bowling not talking much. I had tried to start up a few conversations but they died out pretty quickly. Finn was kind of serious about his bowling. Finally towards the end of the game I convinced him that I was hungry and we should stop for food. He went to get a pizza, and I didn't bother to tell him I was vegan. It didn't matter; I wasn't going to eat much of anything anyway. Being around Finn this long made my stomach upset.

I try once more to start up a conversation by saying, "This is really good pizza."

Finn doesn't take the bait and replies with, "Yeah, I think they import the pepperoni from, like, Michigan or something."

Desperately I jump in to the main thing I wanted to discuss, "How's glee?" I just hope Finn is too stupid to realize that I'm trying to play him. I need him to try and get me back into glee. Invitationals are coming up, and I really want to perform at it. Glee may not mean as much to me as I let people at school believe, but I still love to perform. I just needed a reason.

"Oh, well, everybody misses you." Finn told me.

"They miss my talent." I replied. I couldn't sound too desperate to come back.

"No, no we're your friends. We just miss having you around." I suppose if they all knew the real me it would be true, but I knew from Santana that no one missed me.

"I love glee, I just don't see the point of wasting my energies on someplace that I'm not appreciated." I told him.

"I appreciate you."

Bingo! Finally Finn was getting into his part. Hopefully he could do better. If not I'm going to have to bring out the desperate card. It didn't look good on me, but if Finn doesn't hurry up it's the only way to go.

I'm a little confused when Finn gets up and heads for the bowling balls, but then he says, "It's your last ball. Just like the first time, but better."

I take a subtle deep breathe. It's time for my desperation move. I take the position Finn put me in for the first bowl, and give the ball a small kiss. Finn will think that it's for bowling, but I need the luck for what I'm going to do after. After I throw a strike, I jump into Finn's arms and kiss him. I internally cringe; it's such a stupid desperate move. I relax a bit when he kisses me back. He's obviously not thinking about his blonde girlfriend. I'm truly upset at how he treats Quinn, but happy that he's so easy to manipulate.

"Come back to glee." he asks me when we break apart.

"What about Quinn?" I ask him. I need him to remember Quinn so he'll feel guilty. If he's feeling guilty then he'll spend less time thinking about Quinn's pregnancy.

"I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I just know that, I want to spend more time with you now." he tells me looking solemn.

"I'll-I'll have to quit the play." I tell him. I need to make him think he's convinced me to come back to glee. It's a dangerous balancing game I'm playing. I need to keep Finn interested in both Quinn and I without upsetting a very delicate balance. When Finn stiffens in worry I quickly assure him, "I'll do it."

Finn gives me a hug, and I can't wait for it to end. Finally he pulls away and we stumble through some more conversation. At last it's time for us both to leave. Finn offers me a ride home, but I tell him I have someone waiting for me.

When we get to the parking lot Finn gets in his car, waving to me as he leaves. As soon as he's left the parking lot Santana's car pulls up. From the timing I can tell she's been staking out the alley waiting for this moment. I am so happy. Santana is the exact person I want to see at this moment.

As soon as I get in the car I pull Santana into a deep kiss.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" Santana asks me when I finally break the kiss.

"That was to get the taste of Finn out of my mouth. I had to kiss him to move things out. I just needed something to make me forget."

"In that case come her." Santana pulled me into another kiss. We sat there for ten minutes making out before Santana finally drove me home. Then we went upstairs to my room and continued from where we left off in the car. A night of making out with Santana is just what I needed to make me feel better.

* * *

><p><strong>Two Days after Bowling with Finn, The Day before Invitational (Santana's POV)<strong>

I was sitting in the choir room with most of the other glee members. Quinn and Finn were the only ones missing. The only reason Brittany and I were even here is because Rachel is going to rejoin the club today. I wanted to be there for moral support. That and I just wanted to see her.

Everything was going fine until Kurt turned his, Mercedes, Artie, and Tina's conversation towards Quinn. "Maybe Quinn is lactose intolerant." Kurt speculated. I tense up not liking where this is going. They can't figure this out now. It's too soon. Quinn didn't want anyone finding out until she was showing. Thank god they all seemed to be oblivious as to what was going on.

"That doesn't explain all the crying." Artie pointed out. I never wanted to strangle the boy more.

"Maybe she just doesn't like the group." Tina replied. Thank god. I hope everyone bought that. Tina had been trying from the beginning to keep the two gossips off the trail.

Puck angrily stood up and moved to the front of the room. "Are you y'all that stupid? Seriously! I bet you thought Bert and Ernie were just roommates. Maybe Quinn's got one in the oven.", he told everyone. Brittany had to hold me down so that I didn't strangle him. Puck had just thrown a large wrench into everything. Now the whole glee club knows that Quinn is pregnant.

"Who's the baby's daddy?" Mercedes asked Puck.

I held my breath until Puck replied with, "Who do you think? Finn." Thank god that's the story he's going with. Hopefully he'll keep quite just because he doesn't want word to get around that he got a girl pregnant. It would make other wary of having sex with him. This is a disaster that we never planned for. We need to come up with a game plan before this gets around school.

Rachel walked in right after Puck finished speaking. She has impeccable timing. Everything is falling apart. We just need to see if her coming back will be a big enough distraction.

"Yes, you've heard right, I am returning to glee club! In lieu of flowers please send all donations to a socially conscious charity of your choice."

"This is a hot damn mess." Mercedes exclaimed, not paying attention to Rachel. This is not good. If she can't distract them well have to find something else. "Oh my god." I whispered to Brittany. We need to get Rachel out of here without her rejoining the club. We need more time.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I thought I'd be welcomed back with a tad more enthusiasm." Rachel said interrupting my whispering. I hope someone tells her what's going on. I can't because of how we have to interact. Once she finds out she'll know how to react.

"Sorry glee club has just been rocked with its first scandal." Kurt told Rachel.

"Quinn's knocked up." Mercedes chimed in a moment later. Rachel looked shocked. I saw her subtly glance over at Britt and I, and I nodded.

"And the baby daddy, Finn." Kurt finished telling Rachel the news. Thankfully Rachel made no more motions to rejoin the club. She stormed out just like she has before. That didn't stop the others from continuing their discussion. I had to do my best to control this.

I stood up and glared at all of them, "I don't know if this shit is true, but I do know that anyone caught spreading this will receive a slushy a day for the rest of high school." I glared at all of them waiting for them to acknowledge what I'd said. After they all nodded I gestured to Brittany and we both stormed out of the room. We needed to find Quinn and take her home. We had a lot to figure out tonight. Our timetable had just been accelerated.

* * *

><p><strong>Rachel's POV<strong>

I can't believe what I walked into. How could they all know that Quinn is pregnant? They aren't supposed to know yet. Nothing is going the way it should. Everything is falling apart. Now I can't even rejoin glee in time for the invitational.

I see Finn walking down the hall and I call out to him, "Finn." When he turns toward me I slap him, "You're a liar. Why didn't you tell me Quinn was pregnant?"

Finn looks shocked, "Who told you?"

I had to play this right. I had to make it look like I just found out, "Everyone knows but me. I'm the only fool who went out with you and let you kiss me thinking you actually had feelings for me." I knew that I didn't have to put much into this performance. I really did feel like crying. Nothing had gone right at all. All of our careful planning had been for nothing.

"But I, uh, I do. Look, yeah I haven't been totally honest with you, but that's different than lying. Well maybe it's not that much different, but look I need to get a music scholarship so I can go to college, so I can get a good job, so I can take care of my kid, and I can't do that if you don't come back to glee club. You should take it as a compliment." Finn told me.

What a jerk. I can't believe anyone would like him.

"You could have just been honest with me."

"Look, I know what I did was wrong. I get that, but that kiss was real." Finn tried to tell me.

"Whatever it was, it ruined any chance of me ever coming back to glee. I hope you have fun playing house with Quinn while you languish in your little ensemble, but my dreams are bigger than that and they're bigger than you. "

I storm away, so upset that I can't even feel happy about my performance. I had to get home right now. The others were probably waiting for me in the parking lot. Before I could get out of the school I see Sue pulling down the glee posters. I tell her that if she wants me back on the play I have to have creative control. I don't want to do this, but they've given me no choice. I'll be able to quit later once everything is sorted out. Thankfully Sue agrees.

I finally make it out of the building and see Jordan pulled up by the curb. I hop in the car and buckle in. She doesn't say anything on the drive home and neither do I. Santana probably told her what happened anyway.

When we got to the house we walked up. We took a mutual deep breath before heading through the door. Quinn was crying on the couch and Britt and Santana were trying to comfort her. They all looked up as we walked in. I gestured to Britt and Santana, and they followed me into the kitchen to get some snacks. I wanted to give Jordan some time alone with Quinn. She's the only one who can get her to stop crying.

When I get back into the living room Quinn has stopped crying, and now has her head on Jordan's lap. Jordan's stroking her hair to keep her calm. I sit down next to Santana on the love seat and let Brittany have the recliner. This is going to be a long tiring discussion.

"I don't think we need to worry overly much about this." Santana stated. We all looked at her like she's crazy. She continued, "I realize that all the glee club knows now, but I threatened them today. I meant what I said, and they all know that. I'll take care of Puck later. Perhaps if we don't talk about it then they won't talk about it either."

Jordan nodded thoughtfully, "Everyone is going to find out anyway. You spend time with these people nearly every day. It's just natural that they would find out first. Did they seem disgusted at all? Mad?"

"No they just seemed shocked. When S and I were walking out they were talking about things they could do for Quinn." Brittany answered.

Santana shook her head, "I was so upset I didn't even pay attention to that. I couldn't hear anything over the pounding in my ears. I'm so mad at Puck. When I leave here he's not going to know what hit him."

Jordan bent over so she could look Quinn in the eye, "See sweetie, no one thinks you're a horrible person. The glee club members want to be there to help you. Maybe this is a good thing. That way when the school finds out you'll have a safe haven where no one looks down one you." She stroked Quinn's hair but looked at everyone, "You all have to stop thinking of this as a failure. Life is one surprise after another. Nothing can be completely controlled. We all have to take our punches and keep on fighting. I swear each one of you is just as big of a drama queen as Rachel pretends to be. Quinn needs all the friends she can get. I'm afraid that this is all going to get worse before it gets better. We just have to do our best, and be there for each other."

We all stared at Jordan shocked. It all seemed so simple when she put it that way.

"You're right. It's better that it's out now. Now the glee club will be on Quinn's side when it comes out to the rest of the school, and Santana's threat will keep it in the glee club. Let's just hope no one can put it together. We still have to figure out how to tell Quinn's parents. Speaking of parents, Daddy wants you to come in for a check-up tomorrow Quinn." I tell them.

Perhaps all of this will work out. We're all just worried about Quinn's mental health. Having a baby is hard enough, but to have strict ultra-religious too. That's just too much for one teenager to take. Every day that passes I'm thankful that Santana brought Quinn to my house. If I was in Quinn's position I would want people I could trust around me. Now she has a rather large safety net to catch her when she falls.

* * *

><p><strong>Jordan's POV<strong>

I took a deep breath before heading out to the car. Quinn had asked me to go to her doctor's appointment and I was a little nervous. I had so many conflicting emotions about the blonde, and I had never been one on one with her for an extended period of time. I just hoped I didn't do anything that embarrassed me.

I pulled up to Quinn's house and the blonde was waiting for me on the sidewalk.

"Hey Q, is everything all right?" I asked concerned.

She buckled up and smoothed her skirt, "Things are just getting tense in the house. My mom wants to know why I'm sick all the time. She doesn't normally pay much attention to me, and I'm afraid of what will happen when my Dad finds out I'm pregnant."

I pulled the car over on the side of the road and turned to face Quinn, I reached out and grabbed her hands, "If anything bad happens, I want you to know that you can come to me. No matter what or when I want you to come to me. I haven't known you for very long, but in this short time you have become very important to me. I will do everything in my power to help you."

The hormonal blonde broke down and sobbed as she hugged me. I just held her as she let out some of the pent up fear that she had been holding in. It had to have been difficult for her to live in a strict Christian home and being pregnant at the same time. I just wanted to wrap her up in bubble wrap and keep her protected until she didn't need it anymore.

After about ten minutes she stopped crying and I pulled back out onto the road. I didn't make a big deal of the breakdown and let her compose herself in peace. A few moments later we pulled back into my driveway and I helped her up the drive and into the house.

Dad had set up all the equipment that he needed in the living room. We didn't want Quinn to be seen going to the hospital and it getting back to her parents.

Dad looked up at us as we entered, "Hello girls, was everything okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah everything is fine? What do you need us to do? I know you need to get back to work."

He smiled and helped Quinn onto the recliner, "I just need Quinn to sit here and let me look at her stomach. We're just going to get a look at the baby and hear their heartbeat. We won't be able to determine sex yet."

"I understand Hiram, I just want to make sure the baby is doing okay. I've done everything you and Leroy told me to do, and Jordan makes sure I eat healthy" Quinn told Dad as she lifted up her shirt.

She grabbed my hand as Dad put the warmed jelly on her stomach and the heartbeat of the baby filled the room.

"Look at that," Dad said touching the screen, "That's your baby. He's doing just fine. He looks just like he should at this stage in your pregnancy." Dad took the wand off her stomach and cleaned her stomach off, "Everything is looking good Quinn, all I can say is keep doing what you're doing."

"Thank you Hiram." Quinn said hugging him trying really hard not to cry again.

Dad hugged Quinn and said his goodbyes before heading back to work. He had taken his lunch break to see Quinn so she wouldn't have to go into the hospital. I pulled the teary eyed Quinn into the kitchen and pulled out some lunch I had cooked earlier.

As I was dishing up the food I decided to make my move, "Uh, Quinn, would you, uh, would you like to go out with me. Just as friends of course cause you have a boyfriend and don't like um girls or anything, but just uh you know spend some time without out the rest of the group. Yeah."

I didn't look up from the food until I felt a hand cover mine. "Of course I would love to spend time with you Jordan."

I smiled as the color seemed to suddenly come back into my day. I know it was just as friends, but maybe that would be enough.

* * *

><p><strong>Invitational (Rachel's POV)<strong>

Today is the Glee Invitational, the first step to bigger competitions. While I have no doubt that the club will win without me I still wish I was performing. Pretty soon I would have to find a reason to rejoin. I would probably have to suck it up and humble myself. I didn't mind too much. I liked most of the people in the club

I was standing in the wings waiting for the club to perform. Jordan was sitting in the audience where the other could see her. I just wanted to be alone while they went on. I watched the curtain go up, and the outfits were nice. Santana looked gorgeous as always. I loved her in jeans.

She's so sexy. We haven't gone any farther than making out, and I'm glad that Santana doesn't mind waiting. I've heard about her reputation at school, but it was mostly exaggerated. She's actually really sweet and caring when we make out. She never goes farther than I'm comfortable, or even try to push me for more. I couldn't have found a more perfect partner.

I shake myself from my thoughts as the song ends. I'd missed most of the performance because I was thinking about Santana. I head to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. I'm feeling a little flushed for some reason.

When I'm heading back to the auditorium I see Mr. Schue with April. He's telling her that she can't go out for the second song. I let out a huge relieved sigh. This is just the situation I needed. Now I can come and get back into the glee club, and I'd be able to perform.

I followed after Schue and managed to come in just as he was telling everyone that they couldn't perform.

"Excuse me. I think I might have a solution. In show business when a star cannot perform, her understudy steps in. I'd be happy to go on for April, if you'll let me." I say, butting into the conversation.

"Since when are you willing to be an understudy?" Mercedes asks me.

"Since I quit the play." I tell them. I can see they're all shocked.

Kurt's the one that asks what's on everyone's mind, "Really? Why?"

"I realized being a star didn't make me feel as special as being your friend. If I let you down when you needed me the most, I'd never forgive myself. I know all the words to the song." I tell them. This is actually hard for me. I don't normally have to humble myself in front of a large group. I hope they go for it.

"You don't know the choreography." Quinn points out. Perfectly executed, but I hope it doesn't hurt my chances. I don't think it will. They all need me if they're going to compete.

"Then we're going to have to give her a lot of help out there." Finn tells the group. I just smile. Finally something went right.

"Go get in your costume." Mr. Schue tells me.

I happily complied with the order. I gave a soft smile to Santana when no one was looking. Now we'd get to spend time together at school. So many things had gone wrong when we tried to obsessively plan out each detail, but it taught us a lesson. When life knocks you down, you have to get back up. Well we're standing proud ready to take on what the world throws at us.

* * *

><p><strong>Rachel's POV<strong>

Everything was going great after invitationals last Friday. After we won, my dads took all of us out for a celebratory dinner. We were so giddy and goofy that they actually packed our food up and asked us to leave. It was all cool though, we had more fun at home. My dads made us go down to the basement, which is soundproof, and let us have our fun. We even managed to get the glee club to have a small party at the park, minus Jordan of course.

The weekend had been great, and it had carried over to the weekend. We were all dancing around, and generally goofing off when Mr. Schue came out of his office.

"Great news guys. Just got the competition bracket for sectionals, and we are in really good shape. There's only two other teams. We beat them, and make it to regionals."

Everyone started cheering. Only two teams? Cake walk, I hope.

"Who are the other team?" I ask him.

"Drum roll please Finn." Mr. Schue calls out. After Finn plays the drum roll he reveals the other teams, "School for the Deaf in Dayton, and someplace called Jane Adams Academy."

"Jane Adams?" Mercedes asks, "That's a half-way house for girls just getting out of juvie."

"Th-this is great!" Tina exclaims. The rest of us are just excited.

"People who can't hear what they're singing, and criminals who don't care. It's going to be a cake walk." Artie notes. He reaches to give Brittany a high-five, but she's already turned to Santana. Oh well.

The rest of us are jumping around the room, congratulating ourselves. It doesn't matter that we haven't even performed, we're all positive that we're going to win. Sectionals are going to be so easy. There's nothing that could mess that up, and we all know that. Well there's nothing, yet. I haven't started planning anything. I think I'm going to let up on my antics for a little while. Though I will keep up my "personality" the drama will take a holiday. I think we all deserve a break.

* * *

><p>That day after school Brittany came bounding into my house. She was followed closely by Santana and Quinn who were walking a little slower. Everyone was still ecstatic about the news we got in glee.<p>

"Rachie can we go feed the ducks? S and Q said I had to ask you because it's actually your turn to pick what we do." Brittany asked me with this adorable little pout. I looked over to Santana and Quinn for help, but they just shrugged their shoulders.

"Come on Rachie, duckies are so cute. We have to go see them. Santana said that they're going to fly away soon. I don't want the duckies to have to fly home hungry." Brittany continued. She just looked so cute. No, must resist. I had plans for this afternoon. Not ones that included ducks. Damn Santana telling her that the ducks were flying away. I glared at Santana and she just smirked at me. I looked around to find my only ally, or so I thought. I groaned when I saw Jordan walking out of the kitchen with two loaves of fresh baked bread.

"Fine, Brittany. We can go feed the ducks."

Brittany literally squealed and jumped into my arms. To say she was excited would be the understatement of the year. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad at all. A happy Brittany made everyone else happy. It was like her sunshine was contagious.

It took twenty minutes for Jordan to pack a picnic basket full of snacks and bread, and to get ready before we could head out. Santana took us to her special spot, the one where we had our first date. I made the others ride in the back so I could hold Santana's hand on the trip. Seems everyone was excited, and I decided that it didn't matter what I had planned. This was so much better.

After about half an hour of rib cracking bad jokes we finally pulled into the parking lot. When we had all gotten out of the car Brittany yelled out 'Race!' and we all took off. Well I mean only Santana, Brittany and I took off. Jordan was carrying the basket, and Quinn didn't want to trip. It was the most intense race I'd ever had, but Brittany won of course. She does have the longest legs.

We collapsed on each other when we reached the lake. Everything was going good until Jordan got there. She started a tickle war to end all tickle wars. Thank god the ducks weren't shy. Otherwise we would have scared them off. Instead they came closer to inspect what was going on.

After Quinn was declared the winner, we all grabbed some bread to feed the ducks. Santana and I finished with the activity first, and set up the blanket. Santana lay down, and I curled into her. "This has been nice. A little reprieve from all the drama. I wish it could stay like this always. Just the five of us having fun, safe and secure." Santana said dreamily as she glanced over at me. I loved that she seemed to reserve this soft side for me, and well Britt. Really though, who doesn't have a soft side for the blonde.

"I know what you mean San. Things have seemed to quiet down since the competition. I think we should set most of the play to the side and just have fun. We deserve a break." I replied.

When she nodded, I leaned in and gave her a kiss. It was nice and sweet. There was nothing rushed about it. Santana had moved to lean over, to deepen our kiss.

For a moment I had forgotten where we were, but it was all brought back to me when I felt something soft hit me in the face. Apparently Santana was getting hit with it too because she pulled away to yell. When she opened her mouth someone threw a piece of bread in it. I started giggling. I couldn't help it. The blanket around us was covered in pieces of bread, and the girls were picking off more to throw at us.

I moved out from under Santana and grabbed one of the intact loaves left. I held it up, and charged at the three culprits. They all started screaming and running around. It was hard to follow them all, but I hit who I could. San had also joined in on the fun and had Brittany pined to the ground force feeding her bread. It had been Brittany who had landed that piece in her mouth.

The silliness continued for about half an hour before we all fell on to the blanket exhausted. Just being able to hang out and be our selves was liberating. We'd never had so much fun, as a whole or in smaller groups. I looked over at all of them, happy that they were there.

* * *

><p>Two weeks later, and not much had changed. Everything had been so pleasant during those weeks. I had even toned down my personality a little bit. That and Quinn started to relax ever so slightly. I personally think that Jordan was working on her. She wasn't able to come to glee too much, but that was due to the doctors' appointments she had to go to. Dad could only bring the equipment home during lunch break to check her out.<p>

Mr. Schue was appalled by our lack of trying. It was funny, and no one did anything to correct it. Why should we? We had the competition cold. There was no way that they could beat us. Once sectional got closer I'm sure that we would all try harder.

"Competition! Every one of these people or elements was a champion in their own right, but they used competing with each other to make themselves even better." Mr. Schue told us. I looked at him like he was nuts.

"I don't understand how lightening is in competition with an above ground swimming pool." Thankfully Kurt voiced my thoughts before I could. Most of the time I felt Mr. Schue was a slow as Finn.

"Just go with it," he said, "You guys have become complacent. You were great at the invitational, but you've got to up your game if you want to get through sectionals. Okay, split up. Guys on the left side girls on the right side. Let's go, come on."

"Kurt." Mr. Schue admonished, nodding his head to indicate that Kurt should go back to the boys side. It was kind of sad, but I didn't really care. I love competitions.

Sc Mr. Schue continued speaking once we'd moved to our side of the room, "Here's the deal. Two teams, boys versus girls. One week from today, you will each perform a mash-up of your choice."

"What's a mash-up?" Puck asked. Oh yeah, this was going to be easy.

"A mash-up is when you take two songs and mash them together to make an even richer explosion of musical expression," Schue explained. "Boys will perform on Tuesday, girls the next day. I want you guys to go all out, okay; costumes, choreography. Whoever wins the competition gets to choose the number we do for sectionals."

"Wait, who's going to be the judge?" I ask, "Your gender makes you biased."

"Ahhhhh," he stalls, "There is going to be a celebrity judge."

"Wh-who?" Tina asks.

"You're going to have to show up to find out." He makes up. It's obvious that he has no idea. That doesn't matter though. This is going to be fun.

"We got this in the bag." Mercedes boasted.

I felt the same and I couldn't keep the excitement out of my voice, "Totally. I'm going to start story boarding our choreography tonight."

I was still hyped by the time I got home. I wasn't able to enjoy the invitational competition because I was off the team, but this time I could go all out. The one thing I loved more than singing was competition. Even if I just had to compete with myself. I didn't care, having a goal to complete made me work harder. It's how I became such a great actress at sixteen. I mean how many other sixteen year-olds could fool an entire school for months.

I bounced into the kitchen and pulled Jordan away from the supper she was preparing, did I mention that girl liked to cook, and spun her around. She just laughed and flicked some flower at me. This of course turned into a see fight, where we both ended up covered with flour. After the recent failures it felt so nice to just let loose. It was like my whole body was lighter.

"What's got into you? I haven't seen you this excited since you decided to compete in that spelling bee…. Oh, there's a competition going?" Jordan asked, smiling indulgently at me. She knew exactly how I got when there was a good competition in the works.

"Yup, it's a mash-off between the boys and girls. I can't wait to get started. What did you do with all the art supplies? I need to start working on the choreography so we can learn it. Oh, and outfits. I need to figure out the outfits."

Jordan cut me off, clearly amused, "Breathe Songbird. Do you even know what song you're going to do, and have you talked to the others about this?"

I pouted. Why did she always have to be the voice of reason? "Well, I was thinking about the song on the way home. I'm thinking we should do something fun and upbeat. You know; kind of reflect the mood I'm feeling. I'm thinking if I don't pick Broadway then the others will agree with me. And the choreography can be storyboarded now and modified when we agree on a song. I'm just excited. It's time to show off all my talents."

Jordan gave me a big hug, and spun me around in a circle just as I had done to her earlier. "The art supplies are in the closet below the stairs, and Rachel, please never change. You're perfect just the way you are."

I gave her a kiss and bounced off to get the art supplies. I don't know what I would do without Jordan. We both did a lot for each other. I made sure she got out and enjoyed life, and she made sure I remembered to eat and kept me organized. I was glad that she decided to move to New York with me when I graduated. Even more than my dads, I don't think I could survive without her. Luckily I wouldn't have to find out.

* * *

><p>I had spent a lovely evening with Jordan making paper dolls for all the girls so that I could storyboard the choreography. It wasn't necessary, but we had fun doing it. I had brought up my song choices to the girls during lunch, and the reception wasn't what I was expecting. No one seemed very interested in the competition. I couldn't believe that they weren't more excited.<p>

I brought the storyboard with me to the practice so that everyone could see what they were supposed to do. I was practically vibrating I was so happy. Finally a task had appeared where I could be myself, and I was going to shine.

"Okay girls, we need to get started." I called out as I entered the dance room. Brittany was the only one warming up. Santana was doing her make-up and Mercedes was painting Tina's nails. I got a bad feeling when I saw this.

"We're getting warmed up." Santana replied off-handedly.

I sighed, this was not going the way I wanted it to. I looked around trying to find some support when I noticed our missing member. "Where's Quinn?" I asked.

"Probably at the mall looking for elastic waist pants." Brittany said. Did that girl even realize what came out of her mouth? I frowned when everyone else laughed. I was glad that Quinn hadn't been there to hear that. I hope that Brittany did it on purpose and not by accident.

I was starting to empathize with Mr. Schue. "Mr. Schuester's right you guys, we can't get complacent." I told them frustrated.

"Chill out. I already picked the songs," Mercedes told me, "We're going to do a mash-up of Halo and Walking on Sunshine."

"That was my idea." I blurt out. I can't believe that she would take credit for that. I had worked hard on picking out the songs. Not to mention actually mashing them together.

"Whatever," She said flippantly, "Come on we can do this in our sleep. You think those six dudes are going to give us any competition? I say we just wing it."

I wanted to strangle her. "We can't just wing it." I said.

"All those in favor of winging it." She called out. No one did anything. I don't think anyone was paying attention except me and Tina. Then she called out, "All those opposed." I raised my hand high. As the only one to actually vote, I felt confident that I had won.

"Looks like the ayes have it." She said after a moment.

I looked at her incredulously. I couldn't believe that they wouldn't listen to me. Yes, I know that I play the part of an irritating diva, but that doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm talking about. I am the only one with years of training. Besides I spent hours last night working on this performance. I glared at Santana and Brittany before storming out of the room.

* * *

><p>A week had passed and I was still mad at all the girls in glee. None of them had changed their minds about practicing. I was especially made at Brittany, Quinn and mostly Santana. None of them would practice with me at home. Why couldn't they see how much it meant to me? But no… They wanted to do other things, like watch movies and hang out, so I let them. At Santana's house.<p>

I know it's irrational, we wouldn't be effective practicing without two of the members, but still. They could have helped convince Mercedes that we needed to practice if they wanted to. I just felt so lost. This is the first time something like this has happily. Normally Santana tries to make all of my scheme happen. What's so different about this? Is it because it doesn't have to do with the play? Is it because this is the real me wanting this? Does she like the real me less, now that she knows I share some traits with the pretend me?

Thankfully my thoughts are interrupted by the boys getting ready for their performance. I'll have to put my thoughts on the back burner for now. I'm going to have to have a talk with Santana about this.

The boys started their mash-up, and I swear I could feel my mouth drop. They were really good, and very energetic. I never thought they had it in them. I looked over at the other girls, and could see they felt the same way as I did. Smug, I sat back to watch the rest of the performance. Now they would wish they had listened to me.

* * *

><p>"I told you guys." I told them all as I finished my tirade. I had repeated myself several times, but I was upset. I had told them that we needed to practice for an entire week, but did they listen to me. No.. I take a deep breath. I need to calm down before I keep going.<p>

"We know, you've been berating us for the better part of an hour." Santana replied moodily. She was sulking. She probably knew that we were going to have a talk about this when she came over.

"Were they really that good?" Quinn asked. She had been in the nurses office laying down when the boys performed.

"They were Quinn," I tell her, "I was fine with arranging, choreographing, and directing this number free of charge, but we underestimated the boys. Their number will go to sectionals, and once again I will be humiliated." I have to take another deep breath so I don't plunge off the deep end again.

"How were we supposed to know they'd rock the house? They've never been good." What did that matter I screamed at her in my head. We should have been practicing because we have pride in our work. Bunch of lazy sycophants.

"How did they d-d-do it?" Tina asked with that fake stutter of hers. I don't know who she thought she was fooling, but she did have a good question.

"The real question is what were they on," Kurt butted in from the door, "Though I've been grouped with the boys, my allegiance remains with you ladies. They declined my offer to do their hair in cornrows, and all my artistic decisions have been derided as to costly because they involved several varieties of exotic bird feathers."

We looked at him like he was crazy. Did her really imply that they'd taken drugs to increase their performance?

"We all took something." He said after a moment.

Yup, that's what I thought he meant. I can't believe they would take drugs. It was a fucking singing competition. It wasn't that important. I storm out of the room without another word, bound and determined to find Finn. He was going to get a piece of my mind.

"Cheater!" I call out to him as soon as I see him in the hall.

He turns around and stares at me, "I don't know what you're talking about."

What an idiot. "You took performance enhancers before your mash-up. Kurt told me. It's deplorable, contemptible, and it's just plain wrong. It's also cheating. As a matter of fact I'm going to start calling you F-rod."

"Hey, hey back off. I'm nothing like A-rod, okay. I'd never take steroids, they make your junk fall off." He said seriously. "Listen Rachel, you don't know what it's like for me, the kind of pressure I'm under."

How did this turn into a help session? Oh well, I guess I can try to help him, "We all have pressure, but you know how I deal with it? The natural way with a rigorous diet and exercise routine. I'm up at 6 A.M. every /day. I have my protein shake with banana and flax seed oil, and by 6:10 I'm on the elliptical. You know how I motivate myself? Not with anything artificial, I set a goal and I won't rest until I reach it."

"Yeah, well, that's personal pressure. If you don't meet your goal then you're the only one that loses. I have to be the quarterback, the male lead, and deal with a pregnant girlfriend who yells at me about ice cream. So, yeah, maybe I helped me and my teammates out a little bit, but it's only because I'm sick and tired of working so hard and losing." He told me.

"Yeah, but winning by cheating isn't winning." I inform him because I want to make sure he understands that. He can't get through life by cheating. You have to nip that thing in the bud fast or it won't go away.

"Don't give me that. The only reason you're so pissed about this, is that you know that you can't compete with us."

Oh no he didn't, "Oh, I'm offended by that accusation. We haven't performed yet, but if I may say our mash-up is spectacular!" I was of course lying through my teeth but he didn't have to know that.

"Still isn't going to be as good. We're going to win, you're going to lose. Deal with it." He gloated before walking away.

It was so on. There was no way I'd let the boys beat us now. I had to find the girls to set up the practice schedule for tonight. I was afraid that all other plans would have to be put on hold. We'd have to really step up our game to beat the boys.

I was marching back to the glee room when someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into the bathroom. I turned around; ready to give them a piece of my mind when I realized it was Santana.

I looked around to make sure that we were alone before speaking, "What's the matter San? Did something happen?" I couldn't think of any reason, other than trouble, that would cause Santana to pull me into the girl's bathroom at school. We had always been very careful to limit our contact at school. We didn't want anyone to find out, and blow our play. It was too much fun most of the time to give up, that and it also helped Quinn out.

She looked down at her feet and took a deep breath before speaking, "Look, I'm really sorry I didn't listen to you earlier. If I had this would be a lot easier. You would have to teach two people instead of six. I understand that you're mad at me, and I'm hoping you'll forgive me."

She looked so adorable standing there with the saddest face I'd ever seen. "Oh, San. It's not the fact that you brushed me off because you thought my idea was a waste of time," She winces at this, but I continue. "I'm not even really mad at you, more upset and worried." I step closer and pull her into my arms, "Santana, can we talk about this later? The girl's bathroom is not the best place for this conversation. I promise that we will have this talk, though. I think it's important to our relationship." She looked scared when I said this, so I leaned in to give her a reassuring kiss, "Don't worry Sweetie. I just mean this will help cement our relationship, and help it grow to something even better than what it is now."

Santana took a deep breath and pulled me closer, "Fine, we can talk about this later, but I will make you talk about it. I just… I just think I'm in love with you Rachel. I feel so empty when you're not with me. You make me feel calm and secure. Like I can be myself, and I won't be judged for that."

I was going to reply to her when I felt the door bang into my back. Santana roughly shoved the door shut and yelled out, "Bathroom's closed. Go find another one."

There was some muttering, but the door didn't try to open again. I looked into Santana's eyes, and gave her a soft closed mouth kiss. I tried to tell her with my eyes how much what she said meant to me. I think she understood because she nodded then moved back so I could leave the restroom first. I impulsively reached out and gave her one last hug before I exited the bathroom. We received some strange looks, but they all turned away when Santana glared at them.

* * *

><p>After spending the entire night trying to rehearse our song, everyone fell asleep at Brittany's house. She was the one with a large basement that we could practice in, besides me of course but no one was coming to my house. We worked so hard, but we still lacked the energy of the boys. If we didn't do something they would win, and we would have to perform their song at sectionals.<p>

Mercedes was the one that talked everyone into going to Mrs. Schuester. If the boys could cheat, then why couldn't we? It would be leveling the playing field. I didn't really like her argument, but everyone overrode me. Now, normally I don't give into peer pressure, but unfortunately the character I was playing wasn't that strong willed. That's why we're all lined up in the nurse's office about thirty minutes before we had to perform.

Mrs. Schuester was talking to us as she passed out our pills, "Everyone gets a dose, oh except for Quinn. You get folic acid, momma. It's good for the baby." The woman was creepy with the way she hovered over Quinn. None of us liked it, but she wasn't dangerous so we didn't do anything, just kept a watchful eye on her.

"Get the lid out Howard, we have patients waiting," She told her assistant. She wasn't a very nice lady. I don't like Schue, but I still wouldn't want him to have to be married to her.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" I ask in a last ditch attempt to get out of this.

"Oh, it's over the counter. It's safe. You can trust me, I'm a nurse. It's good for you." Terri tells me. She must think we're all stupid. She's as much as a nurse as I am. We all look at each other before taking the medicine. I look up at the ceiling, ashamed of myself for giving.

When glee club came around we're all, with the exception of Quinn, hyped up. None of us could sit still, and I couldn't even hear what Mr. Schuester was saying because I wasn't able to pay attention. It was almost a relief when he told us to begin our song. Finally I could channel my energy into something. I had way too much of it just to sit still.

We performed our song, and it was amazing. I could see the shock on all the boys' faces. I felt amazing. I'm not sure why I didn't want to take the pills in the first place. I wasn't paying attention to anything anyone was saying, but when the girls started to leave I followed. We all raced out of the school, and headed home. Thank god school was over. I don't think any of us could have sat still.

* * *

><p><strong>Jordan's POV<strong>

I was sitting on the couch reading a book for school when three wild girls burst through the front door. They were practically vibrating. I looked at Quinn, the only one who looked normal, for an explanation.

"They took some medicine that made them like this for the competition today. Quinn explained.

I was flabbergasted. Rachel had used a drug to make herself better? That wasn't the type of behavior I would ever expect from her.

Rachel suddenly looked down and rubbed the toe of her shoe against the carpet, "I'm sorry Star. We just had to for the competition. The boys did the same thing and there was no way we could win without the medicine. And I did try to stop them." I look at Quinn and she nods the affirmative, "It's just we weren't alone, and I had to be my character, and I couldn't find a way out of it. I'm really sorry, and I won't do it again. I promise."

I stared at the three, and the other two finely figured out that they had done something wrong. I was so disappointed in all of them.

"Okay. Here's the deal, you have to tell Mr. Schuester what you did. It's the right thing, and I think it's past time you did the right thing," I tell them with a glare. "Now, though, each of you are going to go out to the back." When they didn't move I pointed and said, "Now." The three girls scrambled out to the back yard while Quinn and I followed at a slower pace.

Once we reached outside I crossed my arms and spoke to the guilty three, "You are going to play tag, and the person who gets tagged the most will be the one to tell Mr. Schuester." I turned to Quinn, "And for your part in this escapade you must keep track of how many times the others are tagged. If you get the count wrong, then you will be the one to tell Mr. Schuester. Am I clear?" They all nodded that they understood.

I gave them all a speaking glance and Santana caught on first. She reached out and touched Rachel yelling tag. The game was on from then.

I left them out there in the yard when I went back to the kitchen where I could watch them. I was so disappointed in all of them. The girls I had grown to know over the past few months and the one I had known most of life weren't the type to give into peer pressure. Each one of them knew better.

I watched them run around for two hours before I called them in. Rachel had lost, of course. She does have the shortest legs. As soon as they were in I offered them all some snacks. I know that I'm not in control of them, but as the oldest I felt it was my duty to reprimand them. Bad habits start of small after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Rachel's POV<strong>

All the running around we did outside really wore me out. I was finally coming off the high of the medication, and I could tell that Brittany and Santana were too. After we all took a nice shower I pulled Santana into my room. It was time to finish that conversation from earlier.

We ended up sitting cross-legged facing each other on my bed. The silence was terrible, but I didn't know how to start. I wasn't even sure if I knew how we'd ended up here. The week had started out so good, and now we were going to have to have a very heavy conversation.

" So, ah.." Santana began awkwardly, "Wanna tell me why you're upset with me? Then I can fix it."

I sighed and reached out to take Santana's hands, "It's just that this week I was being myself. I wasn't acting, and you brushed me off just like you would brush off the pretend Rachel. It.. It hurt. It felt like you only liked parts of me. The relaxed, slightly normal part. I realize that I haven't had a reason to get crazy before this, but I did pull a lot of the pretend Rachel's personality quirks from me. The only real difference about us is that I can turn off the craziness most of the time and she can't."

When I finish I finally brave a look up to meet her eyes. She's staring at me, and I can see her eyes are a little glassy.

Finally she comes out of her stupor and pulls me into a hug, "Oh, Baby. I love you and everything about you. I actually thought your craziness this week, and truthfully all the time, was cute. You just banished me to my house when we wouldn't help you. It wasn't you I had a problem with, it was the stupid competition. I just wanted to put school away and be with you, but next time I promise to be more considerate."

I sniffled, hating myself for crying. "You really love me?"

"Yeah. A whole lot more than I thought I would love anyone." She said as she pulled a little away from me. She tilted my head up so she could wipe my tears away. Then she placed a soft kiss on each of my tearstained cheeks. "Te amo, mi estrella. Por siempre."

I melted into her. "I love you too Santana." I slid my hand up her arm and around her neck to pull her into a kiss. I was right earlier. This was a conversation that was important to our relationship. It was the first time we told each other we loved the other. It was also the first time we made out without our shirts on. I'm not sure when that happened but I know I fell asleep with a topless Santana in my arms. The medicine's crash had finally hit us hard and we were out for the rest of the night.

* * *

><p>I was headed to talk to Mr. Schue when Finn caught up with me.<p>

"What's up, A-Rach? Hey, sweet mash-up. You guys were so energetic."

I sighed and decided I need to defend our decision, "We were just taking a lesson from major league baseball. It's not cheating if everyone is doing it. We were just leveling out the playing field."

"You really believe that?" He asked me.

"No." I told him, "Okay, I feel terrible. Even if we win it's not going to be satisfying." Now was time to be truthful.

"I know. I don't even remember performing." He said, "What do you think we should do?"

"I think, the only way to make things right is to withdraw from the competition. You know, admit that we were wrong, and disqualify our respective teams immediately. No one gets to win." I responded feeling better. If I could convince him to tell Schue with me then I wouldn't feel so bad.

"Cool." He agreed following me down the hall to Schue's office.

"I'm sorry about what I said the other day. About calling you contemptible, and deplorable." I tell him. I was really sorry. He did have a lot on his plate with Quinn. He didn't even have the support system the rest of us in this problem did. I really felt sorry that he still didn't know that it wasn't his baby. I would have to talk Quinn into telling him soon.

"Ah, that's all right. I didn't even know what those words meant." He said shrugging.

"What I meant to say is that, I guess I get caught up in the competitive hysteria too. My goals are to selfish. You know, it's time for me to stop competing against everyone and start competing along side them." I explain. I want him to understand why I'm apologizing.

We both walked into Schue's office. He looked up happy to see us, and I just blurted the news out. The guilt was eating me up, and I felt better as soon as I told him the truth. He was of course upset with all of us. We were going to have to do a lot of apologizing for this.

I talked to the rest of the club, and we were all waiting for him in the choir room after school. We were all waiting for him to arrive so we could apologize as a group.

When Mr. Schue walked in Finn was the first to speak, "We're really sorry Mr. Schue."

"We didn't mean to get you into trouble." I chimed in next.

"I'm really disappointed in you guys. Glee is supposed to be about what's inside your heart, not what's coursing through your veins."

I looked down at my feet. I knew what he meant, and that's how I felt. I had just let the whole competition get to my head. "We know, and I speak for everyone when I say we'd be happy to move forward and to put this episode behind us."

"Well, it's not that simple. Because of this debacle, it's been decided that I'm no longer fit to run glee club myself. We've been assigned a co-director." He told us.

"Who?" I asked. "Hey kids. I've got to tell you I'm just thrilled to be coming on board to co-captain your little show-biz cruise. Ah, I can't wait to start singing, and dancing, and maybe even putting on the roots a little bit." Sue Sylvester said as she strolled into the choir room.

Oh god no…. Or maybe yes?

* * *

><p><strong>Rachel's POV<strong>

I can't believe how hard things were going. When I first got here, I thought school would be a breeze. Now, now I dreaded going to school most days. It was getting extremely difficult to keep Quinn's secret a secret. With her running to the bathroom on semi-regular intervals more than the glee club was getting suspicious. I had to take more than my fair share of slushies to keep the attention off Quinn.

I sneezed, and used the tissue Jordan had sent with me. She always knew when I was getting sick. I shut my locker a little harder than I had planned. Now was not the time to get sick. It must be those damn slushies. Maybe we could find something else to keep people from guessing.

"The independent polling company in my Dockers have determined that you're the hottest girl in this school."

I nearly gagged when I heard Jacob, "Ewe." Couldn't the boy leave me alone? I was already feeling bad.

"Hey, have you been reading my blog?" he asked me.

"Of course not," I replied, "You're a gossip monger, and you blog is nothing but trash and lies. Many of them about me." "Well you'll be happy to know the one I'm working on right now has nothing to do with you, or your rumored lust for Jew-fros. It's about Quinn Fabray. Word on the street is that she's in trouble." He told me smugly.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked sharply. The glee clubbers had been threatened to get beaten if they even breathed a word of this to themselves. This was a disaster. Why did they only seem to find me?

"Are you denying it?" Jacob questioned.

"Yes!" I said emphatically. I had to get somewhere where I could call Jordan. She was the only one I could go to. I hadn't told the other three that I was starting to feel bad. They were all just as worried as I was about Quinn, and I didn't want to make it worse.

I started walking towards the bathroom when I heard him call out, "Because the same birdy told me you're heartbroken Finn Hudson didn't choose you to carry his litter."

I walk back towards him feeling my heart getting heavier, "What is it going to take for you to not run the story."

When he asked for a pair of my panties I felt disgusted and shocked. I reluctantly agreed to it so he would go away. I told him I would need a day or two to get them. As soon as he left I once again tried to make my way to the bathroom. Now more than ever I needed Jordan's advice. Perhaps I could ask the trio not to come over today. That way I could eat some vegetable broth and go to bed.

Somehow I made through the entire day. I'm not sure how. The whole day is just a blur to me. All I know for sure is that I didn't mention the panties to the trio, and I asked them not to come over. I gave some lame excuse about Jordan wanting some quality time, and they bought it. In fact none of them seem to notice me at all. I was a little put out by that, but my relief won out. Now I wouldn't have to try and keep up appearances at home. It was hard enough at school.

After a solid nights rest, and some mothering from Jordan I went to school the next day feeling better. The first thing I did was give Jew-Fro the panties he wanted. Jordan had went out and bought some for me during school hours yesterday. I was so disgusted I hurried to the bathroom as fast as I could. I needed to wash the germs off.

I was halfway to the bathroom when I ran into something solid. I looked up from my position on the floor to see Finn towering over me. I was irritated. I didn't need Finn to make my day worse.

"I'm so sorry Rachel. I didn't see you there."

I sighed, "It's okay Finn. I had a lot on my mind."

"Is everything okay?" He asked, "You look like you need someone to talk to."

It was so odd that Finn was the first person to ask me what was wrong. Jordan always let me come to her with my problems so she didn't count; besides she always knew what was going on, kind of freaky if you really thought about it. Anyway none of the girls had even noticed I wasn't my normal self. All Finn had to do was bump into me to see it. I didn't mean to, but I ended up spilling the whole Jacob issue with him. I would have liked to be able to talk to someone uninvolved with the play about a lot of things, but Finn was out of the question.

"So what did you have to do to get him to stop?" Finn asked me after I finished explaining everything I could.

"Let's just say I feel sorry for my dads, I replied, "cause they're probably going to have to dip into my college fund to pay for intensive therapy."

"Whoa, hard core."

I shrugged, "I don't mind. I did it to protect you."

"And Quinn." Finn added.

"Of course." I said, just a little peeved that I had forget Quinn. "We're all teammates."

"Hey, I gotta tell you. You really are awesome. I'm going to make it up to you some day, I swear." Finn said before he headed off to class.

I just stared at him lost in thought. I couldn't remember if the others, meaning Quinn mostly, had been that thankful when I helped them. They hadn't expressed it if they had. I frowned to myself. It had been over a month now that I had been helping Quinn and by extension Santana, and I was starting to feel used. It felt like they took me for granted. Especially Quinn, she never even thanked me when I went out of my way to make sure things were easier for her.

I shook my head vowing to contemplate this later when I had more time. I turned around to head towards when I ran into Jacob.

"I need another pair." He told.

"What's wrong with the ones I already gave you?" I asked.

"Uh, they still have the tag on them." He said holding the panties up in the middle of the hall.

"Put those away." I hissed reaching out to grab them before anyone noticed what he was holding up. This was not going as planned, though I hadn't really had much hope that it would.

"I want Rachel Berry panties." He stated, "Okay, I expect delivery by tomorrow morning, or the story of Quinn Fabray and the stork goes wide. I feel an urge to kiss you right now. I'm just going to go for it."

I push him away and tell him, "Stop it."

I throw up my hands before heading off to class. There's nothing I can do, but give into his demands. Maybe I have an old pair that looks used, but isn't. I'll have to search when I get home. After a nap though. I'm still not feeling my best. Hopefully I can convince everyone not to come over again tonight.

* * *

><p>I couldn't convince the girls not to come over, but luckily I had some time to myself while they were at practice. I went to bed as soon as I came home. It felt so good to lay down that I forgot to set my alarm. I had wanted to be up in time for when everyone came over. Today was the day we'd finally get to find out the babies gender. Even though I didn't feel very well, I was still excited.<p>

I woke up feeling very warm. It was odd, I distinctly remembered going to sleep without any covers. That and I don't remember my covers weighing so much . I crack open one eye, and to my surprise Santana is laying on the bed with me. She's got her arms around me and she's staring at me. I open my other eye and quirk an eyebrow at her.

"Morning sleeping beauty." She says.

I start panicking and try to jump off the bed. It can't be morning. I'll be late to school. I didn't do any of my homework, or work on any songs. I can't believe I slept so long. This was not my plan for the night.

Santana kept me from leaving the bed and kissed me, "It's only a saying. It's about five right now. I just got here about half an hour ago."

"Why did you let me sleep?" I asked her, "You could have woken me up so we could spend some time together."

She shrugged, "You just looked so peaceful. Besides I enjoyed just holding you. Things have been crazy lately and we haven't been able to spend time together. I enjoyed it."

I just nodded and wrapped my arms around her. We laid there for probably twenty minutes before Brittany came to get us. We didn't talk, we just held each other. This did more to make me feel better than anything else. I loved being in Santana's arms. I'm glad she didn't want to wake me up.

We went downstairs with Brittany to eat supper. Everyone was staring at me and it was getting kind of creepy.

"Do I have something on my face?" I asked irritably.

Quinn shook her head, "No. Everyone is just waiting for you to ask what the baby's gender is. Or maybe you were waiting to ask Finn?"

Now we were all staring at Quinn.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't pretend you weren't getting chummy with him in the hallway today. I saw it with my own eyes."

Everyone's head swiveled to look at me. Brittany and Santana looked interested, and Jordan just looked sympathetic. I think she was the only other one to realize that I was dealing with pregnancy hormones instead of Quinn.

I sighed before I replied, "Okay. So I talked to Finn. What's the big deal? You're the one who wanted me to keep him too busy to find out the truth. Besides he's the only one outside of my family to ask me how I was doing in weeks. It felt nice, and I enjoyed my conversation today."

Now Santana, Quinn, and Brittany were staring at me.

"We ask you how you're doing." Brittany said confused.

"Okay. Then tell me how I'm doing." I challenged them, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Well, you're doing… you're doing fine I guess…" Santana stuttered. Quinn and Brittany didn't look like there was anything they could add.

"Actually Rae's been under the weather this week." Jordan informed them all. "That's why she was actually taking a nap today. She didn't feel up for company, but she really wanted to hear the gender of the baby. That and none of you wanted to put off coming today."

They all looked at each other. I could see the guilt in their eyes.

"I'm sure we would have noticed if there was something wrong with Rachel." Quinn said hesitantly.

"If you paid attention to things that happened to Rachel you would have seen what happened after Finn left. Or did you see it and not care? As long as she's doing what you want you don't care about her feelings? That's not how friends work, and excuse me for believing that we were all friends." Jordan practically shouted before storming out of the room.

We all stared after her. I blinked several times before looking at everyone else. I wasn't sure what was wrong with Jordan, but I knew that I had to find out now. She never blew up at anyone, ever.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave."

The trio stared at me before Santana and Quinn started to protest.

"I think we should go guys. Rachie needs to talk to Jo and we need to talk about things to. I think it would be best if that happened in two different places." Brittany stacked her dishes to take to the kitchen. "I'm sorry that we haven't been paying attention Rachel, but I promise we'll try harder in the future."

I nodded before getting up to hug her. "Thanks for understanding Brittany." I whispered.

"It's no problem Rachie. I really am sorry. I love you like a sister and I don't want you to feel bad." Brittany whispered right back. She gave me an extra tight squeeze, "Oh, and in case someone forgets to mention it, the baby is going to be a girl."

I smiled into the hug before releasing her. I gave Santana a strained hug before showing them out. I hated leaving things so strained with the group, but I needed to find Jordan. No matter who came in and out of my life she was going to be a constant. I had to take care of what was mine.

* * *

><p>After several deep breaths I made my way up to Jordan's room. Her blow up was way out of character. I don't think I can remember a time when she had gotten this upset. Normally she's so reserved and polite.<p>

I knocked on her door, more for show than anything else. There was nothing that would keep me out.

"Wanna tell me what that was about?" I asked gently.

"No." came the muffled reply. Jordan sitting in the closet surrounded by her pillows and blanket. The door was only opened a crack, just so she could see if anyone was coming. Now I was really worried. Jordan hadn't retreated to her closet in years. Not since she was ten and some stupid boy had pushed her down then laughed about it.

Jordan didn't react well to most people, and it had surprised me that she had taken so well to the Trio. That's why she was so good at cooking. She didn't like to leave the house by herself, and she claimed there was nothing better to do. I know that there's a different reason, but I never pushed to find out. Jordan has always, and will probably always be incredibly tight lipped about her life before becoming a Berry. The only thing anyone had ever told me was that it was better if I didn't know. I still remember the day our dads brought her home from the hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>*Flashback*<strong>

I hopped out of bed for the hundredth time. I checked out of the window and could finally see the sky getting lighter. Today was my third birthday and my daddies were bringing me home the best present ever. A sister. Now I would have someone to play with, and do all kinds of girly things that my daddies didn't want to do. Like play dress up.

I was so excited that I barely slept. The only thing that kept me in my room, was that Daddy said they weren't bringing my new sister home until after lunch. Maybe if I ate an early Breakfast then I could eat lunch early too.

I ran out of my room and pulled my daddies door open. As soon as I got in the room I jumped on their bed.

"Wake up, wake up. It's morning. When do we get my sister?" I demanded to know.

Dad groaned and rolled over to look at the clock, "Rachel, honey, it's only 5. Why don't you go organize your dolls to show to Jordan while your Daddy and I sleep a little more."

This seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do so I hopped off the bed to run to my room. I had gotten most of my things in order, but I hadn't put my dolls back after yesterday. I wanted my new sister to like me, so I was going to put my toys places she could find them. I loved playing with my toys, so I thought she would too. Oh I just couldn't wait for lunch to come. I really wanted to meet my sister.

Finally lunch time came and passed, but my sister never showed up. Dad had left to pick her up forever ago. I think he got lost on his way back. He must have, cause he should have been here already.

I was starting to get frustrated when I saw them pull into the driveway. I hopped off the couch and ran to the door.

"Daddy They're here!" I yelled.

I was practically vibrating with excitement when Daddy opened the door. Dad was coming up the walk carrying what I could only hope was my sister. My daddy picked me up and told me I had to calm down. I was confused. Why wasn't she walking. I could walk, and they said she was my age. I was three, and could even count that high. It was a really big number. Maybe she was just tired from the drive. It did take Dad an awful long time to get home.

"Rachel, Jordan isn't going to be up to much playing. You're going to have to take it easy with her and let her get used to living here first. You're going to have to be extra careful around her."

I looked at my Daddy feeling very serious, "Daddy, what's the matter with her? Is she broken?"

He looked sad for a moment before speaking, "In a way baby, but we're going to make her all better. What she really needs is a sister that loves her and will be there for her. Can you do that for her Rachel?"

I nodded so hard I felt dizzy, "Forever and always Daddy."

"**End Flashback"**

* * *

><p>I may have only been three at the time, but I meant that promise. I would always love Jordan, and I would always be there for her when she needed me. To me family isn't about the blood that flows in your veins, it's about the love that flows in your heart.<p>

I laid there on that closet floor for probably two hours before Jordan started speaking.

"I'm sorry for my outburst Songbird. I don't know what came over me." She closed her eyes and leaned against me. "I really don't know what came over me. I just, I just felt mad at them. I see you every day working to find new things to try and keep Quinn safe. Every day at school you put yourself out there so that she can put off facing what you do on a daily basis. I guess I just hate the fact that I put you in this position."

"Wait, what? You never put me in this position. I did it all by myself. I was the one who actually started pretending to be someone I'm not at school. You have to imagine that it's hard for them to completely separate the different me's. There's just enough overlap that even I have times when I can't tell if I'm pretending or not, but none of this is your fault at all. Now tell me what's really bothering you and making you raise your voice."

"I was the one the that suggested you pretend to be someone else. If I hadn't you might have been able to be friends with the trio without having to lead a double life."

"Whoa, hold on there a second. I never would have become friends with them if it wasn't for the play. The way that act at school is as vastly different as my behavior at school is from my behavior at home. They put on an act just like I do. It's because of you that I met the girl I really like, maybe even love. She just makes me want to smile. Everything is worth it when I can spend time with her. I have you to thank for that, and for bringing two more friends into my life."

Jordan sighed and laid her head on her shoulder, "Maybe I want something like that too. I don't know. Since we've been here things have been confusing. It's like these things I never knew I forgot are coming back. Add into that worrying about you, and I've been really high strung lately." Jordan paused for several minute, "I drove by that place earlier today. I got turned around trying to find this small specialty store I heard about, and there it was on the side of the road. I saw it and had to stop because I was crying so hard. I had to call Dad to bring me home. It was fourteen years ago, and that place still terrified me. I think that added with the fact that they weren't treating you right threw me over the edge. I just expected more of them. Do you think they're mad at me?" She finished in a small voice.

My heart broke for her. I wish that I had been there for her when she passed her old house. Dad, Daddy and I had all discussed this possibility before we moved here, when Jordan wasn't there of course. None of us wanted to bring Jordan any pain.

I pulled her in closer to me and started rocking. "It's okay Star. No one's mad at you. Do you want me to tell them why you had an outburst, or just that you're very sorry and it won't happen again?"

I could feel Jordan shudder against me, "Don't tell them anything. I don't want them to think I'm a freak"

I kissed the top of her head, "No one will ever think you're a freak. Not while I'm around. If they do then I'll just have to go all ninja on their ass."

This got the laugh that I wanted. No matter what happened in my life Jordan was going to be a part of it. She was the glue that held me together when things looked the darkest. I can only hope that I do the same for her.

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Day at School<strong>

I was worried about seeing the trio. So far I had managed to avoid them, but I knew my luck was running out. The glee club had planned a jam session for today before practice. I had to admit, that I did miss singing with all of them, that and the drama. Things got so dull when Kurt and Mercedes were gone, not to mention Santana. We had worked out code words at the beginning of our relationship. That way she could compliment me without anyone knowing what was going on. It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed the game.

I was pulled out of my musing by a pair of strong arms pulling me into the girl's bathroom. I would have been worried but as soon as I started paying attention I noticed Santana's perfume. She was the one who pulled me into the bathroom, meaning that Quinn and Brittany were close behind. As soon as the girls in the restroom saw the Trio they got out of the bathroom as fast as they could. When I turned around I found out why. I hadn't seen Santana look this scary in a long time, I kinda liked it.

Santana obviously did not like the grin on my face when she finally faced me after Quinn had locked the door. It caused her to glare even harder which made my smile grow. Now Quinn was glaring at me too, Brittany was just smiling back at me. I don't know what it was about those two glares directed my way, but they made my whole day better. It's like the world spoke and told me that everything was back on track. I did the only thing I could after such a revelation. I went up to Santana and kissed her soundly.

"What the fuck?" Santana exclaimed when I finished.

I just gave her a quick peck on the cheek before replying, "Let's just forget yesterday ever happened. I'll tell you guys when something's bothering me as long as you guys do the same. Let's call it a learning lesson and move on. Now I do believe that we have some wonderful music to make. So if you all will excuse me, I must go warm up my voice. Oh and since it is Friday, let's have a sleep over at my house tonight it'll be my themed party. I'll ask Tina to come sometime later tonight."

I finished my short speech and gave them all a hug before practically skipping out of the restroom. Even all the funny looks I was getting didn't dampen my happiness. I'd just worry about them later. Right now everything was once again right with my world.

I walked into the choir room to Kurt and Mercedes having a "discussion" about fashion. It was heading towards a knock down drag out fight. Well not really, but it could have if it had been between anybody else. Thankfully my appearance calmed them down a bit. We all talked about our music for the ten minutes it took everyone to make it to the choir room. It felt really nice to be able to sing with everyone again. One thing I really hated about my deception was that they didn't get to see my true passion for music. All I got to show was my fierce desire to be number one, not my love of hearing music.

"I miss us all being together." I told them all after we had finished singing. I wish all of our practices could be like this.

"I hope we don't get in trouble for our covert jam session." Said worriedly looking around to make sure Sue wasn't spying on us. .

"If Sue catches us mingling we're cooked." Kurt said, "She told me if I even talked to one of Mr. Schue's kids she'd shave my head, and I just can't rock that look. Even Justin Timberlake is growing his fro back."

"Well," Mercedes said, "we've got to go you guys. Ms. Sylvester is expecting us in ten minutes in the dance studio."

We were all saying our goodbyes when Schue walked in, "Hey, hey what are you guys doing here?"

"Just s-s-stoping to say hello." Tina stuttered out. I don't even know why the girl continued with that irritating quirk.

"Ah, it's great to see you guys." He replied as we all re-said our goodbyes. "Alright, great news guys. Brought the band with me, and I think that we have our number for sectionals.

"Mr. Schue," I said to get his attention, "we don't like what this has become."

"Don't you see?" He replied in a patronizing tone, "That is how Sue wants you to feel. Giving up doesn't help anyone but her. Look, if it were up to me we would all perform together at sectionals, but it's not up to me anymore, okay. Sue's going to do her song, and we are going to do ours. Sue's kids are singing about hate, literally. So, I thought we would try a kinder approach. Alright, Finn and Rachel come up here you're going to take the leads."

The rest of the practice flew by, and truthfully I hated it. I know that if it was bad for me, Britt and Quinn must have been dying. All they got to do was stand there and sing back-up, and the lyrics were defiantly not that challenging. Schue really needs to step up his game if we're going to win sectionals.

* * *

><p><strong>Santana's POV<strong>

Brittany, Quinn, Tina, and I showed up at the Berry house promptly at four thirty. Rachel had been very specific in her instructions and as we pulled up I could see why. The Berry men were headed out of the house as we got out of the car.

"Hello girls, I hope you all have fun this weekend. Leroy and I are off to a conference in Orlando for the weekend." Hiram said as he put the suitcases in the car.

"I didn't know you guys weren't going to be here this weekend." Quinn said confused. Honestly I hadn't known they wouldn't be there either. Neither girl had mentioned it at all.

"It was a last minute thing. We were going to stay home because we didn't want to leave the girls all alone, but we feel much better knowing that you guys are going to be here." Leroy said.

Hiram closed the trunk of their car, "And it will do us some good to get away from the crazy of teenage girls. No offence or anything, but sometimes girl drama is a little too much for two middle aged men."

We all laughed at his attempted humor and wished them a good trip. I was glad they weren't going to be there because it wouldn't restrict the fun we would have. Rach and Jo were comfortable doing pretty much anything around their dads, but the rest of us weren't.

Jordan through open the door and raised an eyebrow at us, "Are you guys going to stand out there all day, or are you going to come in here and have fun?"

I laughed and headed into the house, "You guys are crazy. I didn't realize your dads weren't going to be here."

"Yeah," Jordan shrugged, "They trust us, and it's just a small sleep over. Rae would never let it get out of hand."

"This will probably be the only party I'll have went to in high school that didn't end up with the cops breaking it up." I told Jo as we headed down to the basement. This was going to be a nice change of pace.

Three hours later I had been proven correct. We did some stupid shit like make overs and gossip, but we all had fun. There was junk food and pillow fights, and I wouldn't have traded it for one of Puck's drunken parties for anything.

We were finishing up a scary movie, my pick, when Jordan got up and grabbed a board with a spinning arrow on it.

"Normally this is the point of the sleep over where we'd grab a bottle of strawberry vodka and play truth or dare, but today in deference to Quinn's pregnancy we are going to do things a little different." The redhead said as she made us sit in a circle.

"Yeah normally if someone refuses to answer or do the dare than they have to take a shot, well we're going to combine truth or dare with strip poker. Anyone who doesn't want to answer a question or do the dare has to take something off." Rachel continued.

"Awesome" Brittany yelled bouncing in her seat. The girl might have had a little too much sugar tonight.

"But," Jordan jumped in, "no one can dare anyone to do anything that can't be completed right now, makes them leave the house, or endangers them. Everything else is fair game."

We all agreed and Brittany won the right to go first. The dares were hilarious, and the truths were embarrassing but we all had a blast. It took two hours to get everyone down to their underwear, well everyone except Quinn. She still had her shirt on and refused to take it off.

. "Alright Quinn, truth or dare?" I asked for the last time that night. We had decided that this was the last question before another activity.

"Uh," Quinn said as she looked around, "I think I'll end this right and go with dare."

"Hmmmm," I tapped my chin a couple of times for show, "I dare you to kiss Jordan on the lips." The looks on their faces were amusing, but the best part was the blush on both their faces.

"And that's a wrap," Jordan said as she got up to put the spinning board back up. She was still blushing and I felt like an evil genius. Maybe this would help unpress Quinn's lemon.

It was three o'clock in the morning and I couldn't sleep. The others had all drifted off about an hour ago, but I couldn't seem to follow. We were all camped out in the basement in our underwear, and I was pressed against more skin of Rachel's than I had ever been before. Needless to say I was enjoying the feeling too much to go to sleep.

I resettled my hand for the umpteenth time when Rachel rolled over. "I can't sleep either. Wanna go up to my room so we don't have to be quite. We can talk or something until we finally go to sleep."

I nodded and silently got up and made my way up the stairs. Rachel followed behind me. We successfully made it to her room without waking up any of the other sleeping girls. I wasn't surprised to see Brittany wrapped around Tina, the bubbly girl liked to cuddle when she slept. The surprising find was Jordan wrapped around Quinn. They both had a smile on their faces.

When we got up to Rachel's room she let me find the bed before shutting the light back off. Rae hopped into bed and pressed close to me just like we were downstairs.

"So… Do you wanna talk or something?" I asked not wanting to assume anything.

"Or something," She said before kissing me.

We broke apart to catch our breath when Rachel moved to straddle me. "We can go slower if you want; you've just been driving me crazy for hours now."

When we came back up for air again I flipped us over, "I'm ready if you are. I just didn't want to rush you into something you weren't ready for."

"I've been thinking about this a lot Santana. I jumped into this way to fast with my last relationship and it ended badly, but us, well I think we'll be okay. I know I love you, and I know you love me. I really think that this is a relationship that will last long beyond high school. I want to spend my days making a life with you and my nights making love to you."

I leaned in and kissed her passionately. "That's exactly what I want Rae. I want forever with you." I started pressing kisses against her face determined to wipe the memory of any previous lovers from my girls mind. When I was done I wanted to be the only one she would remember for the rest of her life, and if she started to remember the others I'd just have to make her forget again.

* * *

><p><strong>Rachel's POV<strong>

Two weeks of terrible glee practices passed before Figgins finally came around and decided Mr. Schue was good enough to teach on his own. I had to focus really hard not to yawn through his entire speech. The man could be incredibly boring at times. All I could think about was getting home and spending time with my favorite people.

"Rachel is Jewish," I looked at Mr. Schue for the first time during his speech. I didn't know what he was talking about, or how me being Jewish had anything to do with it.

Despite my lack of attention Schue plowed on. "or Finn is…"

"Unable to tell my rights from my lefts." Finn jumped in when Schue couldn't think of anything. "Sure." He nodded, "Or that Santana is Latina, or that Quinn is.."

"Is pregnant." Sue jumped in shocking everyone, "Sorry Q, it'll be all over the blogosphere by this afternoon. Now everybody knows, including me."

Oh shit.

Everyone turned and looked at Sue. Mercedes stood up and surprised everyone in the room "We've known that for a while now, and it hasn't changed the way we feel about her. Quinn is our friend and we're going to stand behind her no matter what. You may think it's cool ruining someone's life, but it isn't. You are a horrible room and should feel ashamed of yourself."

Sue stood up and angrily waved her arms around, "You are all losers and the sooner you realize that the sooner this school can go back to the way it was." The irate cheerleading coach stormed out of the room.

"What are we going to do?" Kurt asked, getting up to stand by Mercedes, "Tomorrow is not going to be good for our mommy to be."

Quinn looked around the room and saw all the supporting faces, "You guys really don't think badly of me."

I looked at Brittany, Santana, and Tina and raised my eyebrows. Santana shrugged getting me right away, but the others just looked at me strangely. I shrugged and stood up to walk over to Quinn.

I kneeled next to the blonde and took her hand, "See Quinn, Jo and I told you that there were people at this school who would be behind you. This club is a family, and you just have to let them show it."

"Wait what?" Mercedes Said confused.

Santana stood up and moved towards us, "Rachel's known about the pregnancy since the very beginning. Her, Tina, Brittany and I have been trying to protect Quinn and keep her pregnancy a secret. Now that the cats out of the bag things are going to be different."

Kurt asked just as confused as Mercedes, "Why in the world would Rachel and Tina know about the pregnancy. I can see you and Britt because you guys are friends, but Rachel and Tina?"

"Well," I said, "It all started the day Santana saw me naked for the first time. That's when she uncovered the fact that I've been pretending to be someone different at school. We became friends and when Quinn came to her she figured that I could help. It doesn't hurt that my dads' are both doctors."

"What about Tina?" Kurt pressed for more.

"Rachel told me about her acting before anyone found out. I never minded her antics as much as you guys did and she needed a friend." Tina told the group.

Quinn shakily got up from her seat, "Well, since this turned in to a confessional I have something I really need to get off my chest." She moved to the front of the room and looked at everyone, "I wasn't going to do it this way, but I've got something special happening tonight and I want to do it right. I need to tell you all the father of my baby." Quinn took a deep breath and rubbed her stomach.

When she hesitated to long I decided to help her out and jumped in with the answer, "It's Puck."

"Thank god!" Finn said jumping up from his chair. He pointed at Puck, "I don't even care that you slept with my girlfriend. I'm not going to be a teen father. You can have it, and Quinn we're done. I don't even want you to talk to me, or you Rachel. I don't know how any of you could have helped Quinn lie to me for months now. I thought my life was over, and you let her use me. You all should be ashamed of yourselves." Finn stormed out of the room.

"Well that went better than expected," Santana said trying to ease the tension. All those who didn't know were glaring at Puck.

"Don't be mad at him. He's been there for me even though I didn't want him to be. It was one time, and it was the worst mistake of my life but I'm going to love my baby. I'm so glad that all of you are still on my side even after you know everything."

Mercedes hugged the once again crying girl, "Girl we'll be with you every step of the way. Yeah, we were iffy about you at the beginning, but you're pretty okay for a cheerleader. Glee is a family and you're a part of that family."

* * *

><p><strong>Later That Night Jordan's POV<strong>

Rachel had come home from school today and told me all that had happened. I was upset about the coach and planned to file a complaint against her in the morning. What most shocked me was Quinn telling everyone that the baby was Puck's and Finn breaking up with her. When we set up our friend date the blonde was in a relationship, now that she was free I didn't know if it changed anything. Rae had said Quinn did it because she wanted to do something the right way tonight, but did she mean what I think she meant?

I was taking a play from Santana's book and made a picnic for us to eat for supper. It had been a while since I had asked Quinn to spend some alone time with me, but I had been waiting for the right time. I had something special planned, and it only happened every seventy-five or so years. I was just lucky that this was the year it was happening.

Quinn arrived promptly and I went to open the door, everyone else was out at the movie catching the last two Harry Potter movies. I opened the door and Quinn was standing there holding a bouquet of flowers.

"I know we said that this was just going to be friends, but since then I've realized that I have feelings for you that go beyond friendship. I don't know about you, but I would like to give us a try." She said holding the flowers out to me.

I stood there with my mouth open before nodding. Quinn smiled and gently led me back into the house. She stood there holding my hand, patiently waiting for me to gather my wits.

"Uh, well this makes my evening less awkward. Why don't we head out to the back deck?"

"Okay" she said laughing a little.

I'm glad that my awkwardness wasn't bothering her. I had not thought that I would end up with a girlfriend tonight. I had never had one before, but I felt such a pull towards her that I had to give it a chance. I pulled her out to the softly lit deck and pulled her down on the pillows laid out.

"I know what this looks like, but today is something that I've been looking forward to for quite a while." I said when she gave me a questing look.

"What's so special about tonight, besides me?"

"Well," I said looking up, "tonight is the night that Haley's Comet will rocket across the sky. I've always been interested in the heavens. When I first came to the Berry household Daddy used to sit outside with me at night when I couldn't sleep and we would look up at the stars. I learned everything I could about them and I always try to view any special events. I've been looking forward to this for years."

Quinn grabbed my hand, "Then I'm glad I could share this with you."

Dinner went swimmingly. Quinn loved all the food I prepared and we ended up lying on our backs watching the sky. I pointed out all the constellations that we could see, and we were both breathless when the comet crossed our view.

We laid there for half an hour before I felt Quinn start to stir. I didn't think anything of it until she was leaning over me. I couldn't help but tense and when she went to move away I held her in place.

"Just give me a moment okay." I asked her, trying to will my body to relax.

"If you're not ready for kissing it's okay, I can wait." She said softly as my body slowly unclenched.

"It's not that I'm not ready, I'd really like to kiss you, but people don't normally come this close without letting me know first." I finally said after a few moments. "I haven't been very good with close contact so you're going to have to be patient with me. I'll tell you if I don't want you to do something. I'm really good at expressing myself."

"Okay, I'll take things slowly. Is it okay if I kiss you now?" She asked respectfully keeping her distance. I nodded and she slowly descended until her lips met mine. It felt like fireworks, until I felt her tongue touch my lips. I cursed my body's reaction as it tensed again.

"I'm sorry Jo. I should have asked." Quinn said pulling away.

I sighed, "There used to be a time when I'd hug any and every one. It's just so frustrating, it's one of the main reasons I don't go out much. I hate how my body shuts down."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No, but you should probably know. I've never been in a relationship before, but this will probably help you understand why I am the way I am." I told her tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'll still give you all the time you need." She said holding my hand.

"It's just, it's not something I like to relive. I went to therapy for it, but it only helped a little bit. It's the defining moment of my life, but I've tried not to let it hold me back." I took a deep breath, "You see, I used to be a very normal girl with a mom and a dad. We lived next to a park and my mom would let me play over there when there were adults present. One day I went to play and I met this girl. We played for hours until her mom made her go home. She was the prettiest girl that I had ever seen, and I just knew that she was special. I went home and told my dad that I had found the girl I was going to marry and spend the rest of my life with. I don't know why he snapped, but he really, really didn't like what I said. I didn't learn until later that he was homophobic. Well I ended up in the hospital where Dad was my doctor. He and daddy decided that they wanted to give me a safe loving home so they adopted me. Unfortunately I've never been able to be comfortable around most people. I'm always waiting for them to snap."

"Oh Jordan, I am going to hug you now," Quinn said seconds before she did hug me, "I will never snap and I will scare away anyone who ever thinks about hurting you."

* * *

><p><strong>Four and a half years later Santana's POV<strong>

Oh god, why was I so nervous. I had been dating my midget for nearly five years now. Why did I have to be so nervous? I was pacing in Quinn and Jordan's room while the two got ready in mine and Rachel's room. Brittany had taken Beth out for a b-date. Every other month the ditzy blonde took Beth out for some fun reserved for people whose name started with B.

We had all graduated from college this past month. It had been hard and scary there in places, but we had made it. The five of us plus Beth moved to New York for college almost as soon as we graduated high school. We lived in a three bedroom apartment over a bakery.

"We're ready!" Rachel sang as she came into the room pulling me from my musings.

"Great let's go." Quinn said as she got off the bed. She was just as nervous as I was but she showed it in a different way.

We made it to our normal restaurant near our house. It was really hard to find a vegan place to eat that served food Quinn and I would eat. I could barely taste my food I was so nervous. Quinn barely touched her food either, and I could tell that our girls were getting suspicious.

An hour after we sat down I saw the waiters coming. They were carrying our surprise under silver domed platters. As they came up to our girls Quinn and I stood up just as we had practiced. We both got down on one knee as the cover was pulled of the tray. Each one contained a engagement ring that had taken months to be created.

"Will you marry me?" We asked in unison.

The crying girls looked at each other before throwing themselves in our arms. Today was the best day of my life, today was the day Rachel agreed to be my wife.


End file.
